Life, Love, and Lies:  A Marauders Story
by Gryffindor777
Summary: Starts at end of summer before 7th year.  Will follow the marauders and their friends through the worst part of the war.  Action-packed with a nice dose of romance and humor.  Funny, cute, adventurous, thought-provoking, good character development. R
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Rowling, except what my fellow-fanfictioners and other various sources have inspired and, well... theoretically the work that I put into coming up with this story.

Note: I use www hplex com for chronology. To clarify one thing in advance, it seems that students used to be allowed into hogwarts at 10, meaning that they would turn 17 during their 7th year. I could be wrong about that, but just take my word for it and accept the creative license please.

Chapter 1

What the Hell?

It was a hot morning in early August in Northern England where Lily Evans spent her summers. Her parents were both at work, and Petunia was no longer living at home, so Lily was lucky enough to have both fans pointed at her. Her family could only afford two fans. It was hard enough to keep food on the table, pay rent, the electricity, the phone bill, the clothes, and all the other little necessities of life. Lily Evans family was not, by any stretch of the imagination, rich. It had only been two years ago that they were able to afford the second fan anyway.

Sitting in the cool of the two fans she was able to remember with a smile the days before the second fan when all four members of her family would huddle in front of the one fan, never sure if they were creating so much body heat from their proximity that the fan was irrelevant.

But if there was one thing that the Evans didn't do, it was give up, and it would have seemed like giving up to spread out and not even _try _to use the fan. And her parents had worked hard for that fan, damn it.

Lily wished, for about the thousandth time in her life that she had enough money to buy an owl. She felt so cut off from the wizarding world without one. Sure, her two best friends, Marietta Jones and Chloe Stevens wrote often, but they wrote to each other too and owls could only fly so fast. Throw one more owl into the mix, and she'd be able to write to them more often, they'd be able to respond more often and the world would be, as far as Lily was concerned, a far better place.

It was almost enough to make her wish that she had accepted Potter's offer that time that he had offered to buy her an owl if she would go out with him. One date couldn't be that bad, even with Potter. But going on a date in exchange for Potter buying her something sounded a little too much like prostitution. Especially considering how dirty-minded she expected Potter was.

It wasn't her parents' fault that they didn't have money. Lily knew that full well. They tried so hard to make as much money as they could, but the economy in the area was rubbish and it didn't seem to matter how hard you tried to work to make an honest living, there just wasn't enough money to be had. Leaving the area would have been giving up, too, because the Evans and the Scotts (Lily's mother's family) had lived in the area for generations.

Her mother worked as a waitress in a diner and her father was a welder at a car manufacturer that was always on the verge of going under. Both respectable professions, as far as Lily was concerned. Her mother served people who needed to be served, and her father made things that needed to be made. But respectable jobs didn't necessarily pay the bills.

That's why Petunia had married rich. Petunia was the only one of the Evans who did give up. In fact, she probably would have left the fan if she was smart enough to think about things like combined body heat.

Lily scolded herself, reminding herself to at least _try _to be nice to her sister, even if her sister had hardly said a kind word to her since she got her letter from Hogwarts 6 years before. But Lily realized that she hadn't even been thinking of Petunia as an Evans when she originally thought of Evans not giving up.

But that was partially fair, Lily reflected, given that Petunia was officially a Dursley now.

Of course, that didn't mean that Lily would stop thinking of herself as an Evans once she got married, even if she did change her name.

If she ever got married. She hadn't dated anyone in months and frankly there was nobody at Hogwarts at the moment who impressed her enough to start dating. And she wasn't in to older guys either. They always seemed to think they could tell her what to do. Like when she had dated that git Scott Michaels back when she was in fifth year and he was in seventh.

So maybe she'd never got married. She wasn't overly concerned about that now, though. She was basking in the cool air of the two fans pointed directly at her, one at her top half and one at her bottom half.

Lily jumped about a foot in the air when she heard an owl knock at the window. "Maybe it's from Marietta!" she yelled. She talked to herself sometimes when she was alone.

Her first emotion, when she looked closely enough at the owl to see that it was a school owl was disappointment. Just another stupid book list. Oh well. At least it would necessitate a trip to Diagon Alley where Marietta would insist on buying Lily lunch, ice-cream, and the half of her school supplies that her parents couldn't afford to buy her.

Marietta came from a rich old wizarding family. Almost as rich as the Potters. That was why Lily felt ok with letting Marietta buy stuff for her. That and she figured it was just about a fair wage for the amount of work she put into helping Marietta with her Charms and Potions homework. And the tutoring. Marietta had gotten gotten Charms and Potions on her O.W.L.s almost entirely because of Lily's hours of work with her.

Of course, the hours of teaching helped reinforce the concepts for her, too, but, although Lily felt a little conceited even thinking it, Marietta needed the help _way _more than she did.

Lily actually squealed when she actually opened the envelope that the owl was carrying and a badge fell out that read "head girl".

But her mood went from excited to frustrated in about a second when she realized that she couldn't tell anybody the news that she was so ecstatic about because she didn't have a bloody owl!

"Merlin," muttered Lily. "Maybe I _should _have prostituted myself out to Potter." She thought a moment and added, "At least he's good looking."

James woke up to the sound of an owl knocking on the window. He had a head-ache.

"Sirius!" he yelled, and then immediately regretted making so much noise.

Sirius, who was on the next couch over from James shot up into a sitting position.

"What?" Sirius yelled back, then grimaced.

"You hung over?" asked James, quieter this time.

"Of course I am, I drank 8 pints last night," said Sirius with an eye-roll and another grimace.

"You know, if you didn't drink so much you wouldn't have so many hang-overs, said Lupin, who conspicuously did not grimace when he spoke.

"Prat," said James.

The owl tapped on the window again. "In a second!" whispered James frustratedly. He did not want to get up just yet.

"How the Hell's Peter still asleep?" wondered Sirius quietly.

"I dunno, maybe he's still drunk. He kept up with us last night and... well, he's tiny," said James.

"Yeah, he's got a problem," said Remus contemplatively.

"Stop being so critical. He was happy last night," argued James.

"Was he?" asked Remus.

"Er... oh wait, that was me, wasn't it?"

"I would say it was everybody _but _Peter" said Lupin with a note of pity in his voice.

"Always seems like he's scared of something, doesn't it?" whispered James, who was now making an actual attempt not to wake up his sleeping friend.

"A lot of people are scared of something nowadays," said Lupin with an eye-roll.

"Oh yeah, that Voldemort prat. Well, at least he didn't crash our party last night," said Sirius. He talked a bit too loud, as he normally did when he told jokes. He grimaced again.

The owl knocked on the window again as Sirius cracked his joke. No one noticed.

"Could you not say the name?" asked Peter groggily from across the room.

"Could you grow some balls?" retorted Sirius.

"We don't have to say it in front of him if it bothers him," said Lupin.

"But it shouldn't bother him, it's just a name," said James.

"Do we have to fight about everything?" asked Lupin.

"When we're hung-over we do," opined Sirius.

"Yeah, Merlin's beard am I hung-over," said Wormtail.

"You going to throw up again?" asked Sirius.

"No- Maybe" said Peter.

James rolled his eyes. "Try to make it to the bathroom."

The owl tapped on the window again, louder than ever. James finally got up, mostly because the noise made his headache worse.

"Why do you suppose he throws up the morning after he drinks?" asked Sirius curiously.

"I would assume it's involuntary," answered Lupin.

"Oh, shit, it's a school owl," said James, as he opened the blinds which had been conveniently kept closed to keep the light out from the oversleeping teens. James opened the window and let the owl in.

"How are you boys doing?" asked Mr. Potter jovially.

Sirius grimaced, and then responded cheerfully, "Your son's hung-over!" He grimaced again.

"Yes, well, he'll learn how to hold his pints someday," responded the gray-haired Mr. Potter with a gentle smile.

"I hope it's soon," said Lupin.

"Once again you're the only one not hung over?" asked Mr. Potter to Lupin.

"Yes, Mr. Potter," said Lupin.

"I've told you to call me Larry," said Mr. Potter.

"That's not your name, you-" said Sirius.

"Merlin!" yelled James, who had just gotten around to opening the envelope that he had untied from the owl's leg.

"Stop yelling!" yelled Peter from the bathroom.

"I'm head-boy!" yelled James.

"What the hell?" asked Sirius and Lupin in unison.

"Congratulations!" said Mr. Potter, and hugged his son. "Now go tell your mother."

"Where is she?" asked James.

"Kitchen," responded Mr. Potter. "So another legendary Potter party last night?" he asked Sirius as Lupin and James left the room.

"Yeah. Sorry that you slept through it," said Sirius.

"You know I'm too old to stay up that late," said Mr. Potter.

"Congrats, mate," said Lupin, as he and James walked through the massive house toward the kitchen.

"I thought it'd be you mate," said James honestly.

"So did everyone else in Gryffindor," said Lupin. "But I'm content just to be a prefect.

Besides, can Gryffindor really afford to lose a prefect?"

"They could have appointed a new one," said James.

"Who?" asked Lupin.

"Er... me I guess?" asked James.

"Would you have accepted?" asked Lupin.

"Not a chance," said James with a laugh. "All having to follow rules and no glory? Who

wants that? I mean. Aside from you?"

"I don't follow all the rules," said Lupin with a frown. "You know that full well."

"Yeah, but it's harder for you not to get caught. Anyway, I'm willing to put in extra work into getting away with pranks if I get a head-boy badge" said James.

"Right," said Lupin with an eye-roll. "I'm sure that's exactly what Dumbledore was hoping for."

"You know no one's ever going to know what that man's thinking," said James.

They reached the kitchen.

"Are you hung over?" asked Mrs. Potter halfway accusingly.

"Er... maybe," said James, somewhat embarrassed.

"Here, take this potion, but this is the last time I'm giving it to you," said Mrs. Potter.

"No it's not," said James with a smile.

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes. "Well, I wish it were," she said. Do Sirius and Peter need some.

"Of course they do, Mum," said James cheerfully. Then, slightly more cheerfully, "Oh by the way, I'm head boy!"

"What the hell?" asked Mrs. Potter, dropping the cup of potion to the floor, where it shattered.

Six hours after she got the notification that she was head girl, Lily finally heard another tap on the window. She jumped up again, thrilled to see Marietta's owl.

She ripped open the letter.

Dear Head-Girl Lily (You are, right? I bet Marcy from Ravenclaw a galleon you would be).

You'll never guess who the head-boy is... Ok, so, get this, I heard from Electra who heard it from Sirius who she's dating as of last week that James effing Potter is Head Boy. Is Dumbledore trying to torture you?

Write me back immediately to confirm that Marcy owes me a galleon!

Yours,

Marietta.

"What the hell?" asked Lily.

A/N Ok, so, I never thought I'd write a James/Lily fic, but... now I am. I'm doing a special version of review bribing for this story. For the next chapter at least 3 people must review. The catch is that everyone who reviews (even if you're not one of the first 3) must go to www dot freerice dot com and earn two hundred grains of rice for the hungry by answering 20 multiple choice vocab questions correctly. It's the least you could do for the free entertainment I just gave you, if you enjoyed it. Tell me in the review whether you actually went to freerice dot com or not. Thanks! (I've been on this kick about wanting to help feed the hungry lately). -Gryffindor777


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Gryffindor777 wishes this story were sponsored by www dot freerice dot com (adding the "dot" in between the words seems to trick fanfic dot net into thinking that it's not a website). Go, play, feed hungry folks! Please! Thanks to arwenjanelilylyra for being the first reviewer to promise to play freerice for this story.

Not to be personally combative with anybody, but it's canon that James was headboy. Check www dot hplex dot com. It's good. It's also canon that Lupin was a prefect. This is Rowling's fault/brilliance, not mine.

Disclaimer II: Minor typographical/grammatical errors may be ignored for the time being in interest of updating as fast as possible. They will be corrected in a later draft of the story... or... maybe by the time chapter 10's published or earlier if enough people are nitpicky enough. If you ever can't work out what something means, send me message. Also, I've just noticed Lupin is the only marauder who I refer to by his last name on a regular basis. I'll change that it upcoming chapters, and will later revise it for the old ones.

Chapter 2

Hogwarts Express

The rest of the month of August flew by like a Quidditch player on a cheering charm and a good broom. The next thing Lily, James, and the rest of the Marauders knew, they were on the Hogwarts Express.

"Nice to be here again, isn't it?" asked James.

"Maybe for you," said Peter.

"Cheer up, ya great git!" said Sirius.

"I... I can't" mumbled Peter, who looked like he might cry.

"Don't pick on him, Sirius," scolded Lupin.

"Oi! Prefect! I _wasn't_." said Sirius.

"Don't worry Wormtail, you'll feel better when we've pulled a couple pranks," said James.

Peter smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess I will." He moved slightly closer to James. He didn't realize that he did, but James did. James was glad that the had made his friend feel a little better.

"Prefect meeting in ten minutes," remarked Lupin.

"I'm the headboy, I know when the prefect meeting is!" said James.

"I know you do," said Lupin calmly. "I wasn't telling you I was telling Peter and Sirius. They're _not _headboy."

"Nope, that's me," said James with a cocky smile.

"Oh, yeah Prongs," said Sirius with a vicious eye-roll. "Smile _exactly _like that when you see Lily. She'll marry you on the spot."

"You know, sarcasm can hurt," said James, who changed his expression to a comically wounded looking one.

"Only when Lily's involved," said Sirius with a sly smile.

James rolled his eyes. "You know that's what I meant."

Peter giggled out of no where. "D'you remember when you drunk-owled her last week."

"Of course he does," said Sirius. "We've been making fun of him for it for days."

"It wasn't a _drunk_ owl," said James.

"I think they're pointing out that _you _were drunk when you sent the owl," said Lupin with a smirk. "We all know communication is too important for you for you to let your owl drink."

"I _wasn't _drunk, I was three pints in!" protested James.

"Yeah," said Peter, who was still giggling. "Three pints in 15 minutes. Three pints of _butterbeer_ in 15 minutes could give a guy a buzz."

James sighed dramatically. "Fine. I was drunk. But the owl wasn't."

"Nobody's arguing that it was," said Sirius dismissively.

"Okay Head Boy," said Lupin with a tone of mock deference, "when do _you_ fancy heading over to the prefects' car."

"Now!" shouted James, far too excitedly. Everyone in the room knew the excitement was over the prospect of seeing Lily for the first time since school had let out the previous year.

"Right," said Sirius. "Well, I'm gonna go snog Electra. You gonna be okay on your own here Petey?"

Peter hesitated. "Uhh... Uhh... of course," he stammered.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Would it make you feel better if I brought her back here?"

Peter nodded, embarrassed.

"Pervert," noted Sirius with a smile. "Fine, I'll bring her back here."

"Can I come with you?" asked Peter.

"You know, you're so loyal sometimes I think _you _should be the one who turns into a dog, Petey. I guess it's lucky for us about the whole rat thing, though. Must be a pain in the ass for you, though," said Sirius.

Peter smiled, blushing. "I'm ok with it so long as you lot are there to protect me."

"Fair enough," said Sirius, and the four boys exited the compartment together.

"Where the hell is he?" asked Lily, glancing at her watch. It was five minutes before the meeting was set to start.

"I've never heard you use such vulgar language when not connected with James," said Marcy Clapton, the seventh year prefect from Ravenclaw.

"I wouldn't use it if any of the younger prefects were here," said Lily, glaring at Marcy for implying that she had some kind of strong emotion about James. She _did _of course. But that was hardly the point.

"Well then I'm glad that it's just you and me in the compartment this early, then," said Marcy.

"I'm not! I wish that prat were here!" said Lily.

"You know, just because you call him a prat doesn't mean you don't secretly love him," said Marcy with a smirk.

"Sod off and stop giving me insight into James Potter's wet dreams!" yelled Lily in frustration.

"What?" asked Lupin, who had chosen the moment right before Lily said "James to open the door. He was followed by Potter, who was smirking in a way that made Lily's head want to explode.

"Fuck!" yelled Lily, who hadn't even noticed the door open in the first place. "Marcy, Lupin, wait outside and keep the other prefects in the corridor. I need to talk to James in private!"

"Yes ma'am" said all three of them in unison. Marcy and James were smirking openly. Lupin was trying like hell to stop himself from smirking. He was failing.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, my dear?" asked James.

"Punctuality!" shouted Lily. "And I'm not your dear!"

"I would like to point out, Lily," said Potter, whose smirk was slowly fading, "that if you don't want people to hear what you're saying, you're going to have to stop yelling."

"I'm not-!" sputtered Lily. "Oh sod off," she said, regaining her control over her volume. "And I've told you 300 times to call me Evans."

"Well, to be fair, I've told you _way _more than 300 times to go out with me, and, er... well... you know how that's turned out. Evans," James enunciated the last word carefully. "Now what did you want to say about punctuality, Evans?"

"Be fifteen minutes early to every meeting that I'm forced to have with you," said Lily with a note of fury in her barely restrained voice. "We need to provide a united front as head-boy and head-girl."

"In my defense," said James. "You've never told me that before. And I _asked _you how early you wanted me to be in that letter I sent you the other night."

"Yes, but you were clearly drunk when you wrote it, you prat, plus, I don't have to have contact with you over summer break," retorted Lily.

"But you do if you want me to know when to come to meetings. I'm not a Legilimens," said James in what Lily felt to be an annoyingly patient tone.

"I _know_ that. They don't even _teach _Legilimency at Hogwarts!" yelled Lily.

"So you think that just because they don't teach something at Hogwarts, I don't know how to do it?" asked James with a smirk.

"You're infuriating," said Lily.

"Yeah, well. People are probably just about ready to come start the meeting by now. You want to do all the talking, or is there something you want me to say?" asked James.

"Er..." hesitated Lily. She hadn't been expecting Potter to be cooperative at all. "Just say what they normally say at- oh, that's right, you're the one head boy in the past 20 years who hasn't been a prefect first. Er... Just... Here, take this list and tell the prefects what their first house passwords of the year are and then... Say something encouraging about how it's going to be a great year. But don't be a prat. And... you talk after me. Ok?" Lily asked.

"Yes, Evans. I'm smart enough to know that you know what you're doing here more than I do." He took the list. He smirked at the realization that he had just been handed the password to the Slytherin. _That _was going to come in handy.

"Why are you smirking?" asked Lily.

James sighed. "Sorry. Don't worry about it. The meeting will go great, you'll do great, and I'll be a good boy. Or a good head boy. Or... Well, you know what I mean. Can I open the door now?"

"Er," said Lily, who was irritated for a reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on. "Of course. I have to trust you you know."

"I've never given you a reason not to trust me, Evans," said James, sincerely. It surprised Lily to realize he was telling the truth.

James opened the door.

"'Bout time, mate," said Lupin, who was standing in front of a group of almost twenty prefects. "All but the stragglers are here."

"Okay, well, we'll give them another minute to show up," said Lily, glancing at her watch. "Actually, according to my watch there's still two minutes left, so maybe they're not stragglers after all."

"I stand corrected," Lupin said to Lily with a friendly smile.

Lily smiled back at Lupin in a way that James wished he would smile at him. Of course, smiling at him wasn't the _only _thing that James wanted Lily to do to him.

There was comfortable chatter among the students as the last few of the prefects made it in.

When it was time for the meeting to start, there were a total of a dozen prefects in the room, as well as the Head Boy and Girl.

"Greetings, everyone," said Lily, in a confident tone of voice that James admired so much. Lily picked another piece of parchment off the table with notes scribbled on it. James vaguely wondered where Lily had gotten all these notes from. "I'd like first to welcome the new prefects to the group. The fifth years, Glenn Thompson and Stacy Jennings from Slytherin, Mary Finnigan and Jason Prewett from Hufflepuff, James O'Henry and Jennifer Crouch from Ravenclaw, Sarah Jacobs and Anthony Podmore from Gryffindor, and last but not least, my friend Chloe Steven, who is taking my spot as Seventh Year Gryffindor Prefect. All of you are here have obviously obeyed your prefects in the past."

At this point in her speech Lily glanced at James with a look of slight distaste. She hardly realized it. "This means, of course, that you already know what prefects do. We take turns helping Mr. Filch patrol the halls at night, make sure all rules are obeyed," now she glanced almost subconsciously at Lupin, "and just generally help the teachers out with what they need to do. Now, I know I've always been annoyed in the past about how long these prefect meetings normally go, so Potter- I mean... James, and I are going to keep it short." James noticed that Lily was blushing a little bit. He expected that she had not intended to call him by his last name. She wanted to pretend the Head Boy and Head Girl were on friendlier than last-name only terms. James hoped if she pretended enough, she might stop having to pretend.

Lily mentally cursed at herself for blushing, then continued. "Basically, I think everything else you need to know about being a prefect, like when you must or need not take points from people in your own house, or when you can and cannot take points from people other houses, can be explained to the newer prefects by the older ones. That is, if you lot are willing to do that, in order to keep this meeting short so we can all get back to our own compartments."

The seven most experienced prefects nodded vigorously.

"Good," Lily continued. "The only new rule this year is that curfew has been moved from eleven pm to ten pm due to a pair of violent incidents carried out against younger students late at night last year." Lily involuntarily glanced to the part of the compartment where the Slytherin prefects were huddled together. She knew it had been Slytherins who had committed the acts, but she knew that the Slytherin prefects did and had done nothing to punish it. If they hadn't been the ones to carry out the acts themselves.

"Er..." Lily said for the first time in her speech. James had never noticed how good of a public speaker Lily was. And here, he had thought he had noticed _everything _about Lily. James rolled his eyes at himself. He didn't much care for being wrong.

Lily continued, "I think I'm ready to turn it over to James."

"Thank you, Lily," said James, following Lily's lead in calling each other by their first names in this context. He watched Lily's face to see if she showed any signs of displeasure. She didn't. James smiled before continuing.

"Okay, well, my first order of business is to let everyone know their house's first password of the year. Of course, since we're all prefects here, so we can all trust each other," James just managed not to smile as he glanced at the Slytherins, who glared back at him.

"So that means I can just read these off in front of everyone here," he glanced at Lily, who nodded, feeling slightly bad that she hadn't explicitly told him this before the meeting started. Oh well, thought Lily, with a mental shrug, he should have known to ask. But she still felt a little bad.

"Right-oh! The password for Slytherin is "Puritas". Hufflepuff, you've got "Dignitas". Ravenclaw, "Cerebrum," Gryffindor "Virtus". Well. Dumbledore is apparently fixated on Latin this year." James paused, thinking of what he would say next. He didn't want to disappoint Lily.

"Well, you, lot. I know just about all of you, and I'm confident I can get along with you," he glanced at the Slytherins, who were still glaring at him, because they were the people who made his last statement a lie.

"So we're all going to work together to make this a good, safe, fun, and exciting year. And we're going to make sure to all be fair to each house, since all of our houses have great and noble traditions. I think if we work together we can make this one of the best years Hogwarts has seen in awhile, and I mean that sincerely. The world outside is getting scary. But together we can keep Hogwarts a really cool place to be. And I can't think of anything else I could ask for for my last year at Hogwarts. Once again, welcome to the new prefects, and I'm sincerely looking forward to working with all of you. That's all I have to say, and I wouldn't want to keep you all from your friends any longer, so I think Lily are just about ready to let you go," James looked tentatively at Lily, who was frowning and seemed to be lost in thought.

She snapped out of it. "Er, yes. You guys can go. Like James said, we're going to have a great year. And, right, this meeting's over. Thank you all for your time."

James decided to stay in the compartment after the meeting was over, just to see if Lily wanted him to talk to him after meeting. She apparently wouldn't necessarily have told him if she did. He was excited to see that Lily stayed seated as well as the prefects filed out. Lupin said goodbye to James, and Chloe said goodbye to Lily.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" asked James, as the last prefect left the room.

"No, it really wasn't" said Lily, who looked almost surprised. "Thanks."

"For what?" asked James. "I did what I'm supposed to do as a Head Boy. Didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," Lily. "But I'm allowed to thank you for that if I want, aren't I?"

"You can thank me for anything you want," said James in what Lily thought was an oddly sincere tone of voice under the circumstances.

"Well," said Lily, hesitating, "I will. You know... if you keep being a good Head Boy."

"Of course I will be, Lily. Come on, I wouldn't let Dumbledore down. Or you," said James.

"Does that mean no more pranks?" asked Lily with a mixture of hope and surprise in her voice.

James frowned. "It may mean _less_ pranks. And come on, I've seen you laugh at at least a couple of the pranks we've pulled over the years."

"I have not," said Lily. But then she figured that if she wanted to be able to trust James, she ought to be able to trust him. "Okay, maybe a couple times. You're a prat, but... you're funny sometimes."

"I'm not always a prat," said James, still in that oddly sincere tone of voice.

Lily thought for a moment. "No, maybe you're not," she agreed. "Nice speech by the way."

Lily smiled at James.

A/N: Conditions for next chapter publication: at least 4 people must spend 5 playing on freerice dot com and tell me how much rice you win for the hungry people. Person who donates most rice, no matter what number you are, before next chapter is posted, will get a special thank you in the beginning author's note of next chapter. You have my word that the site is legit and will not cause your computer any problems. The UN world food program recognizes the site as "essential in the fight against hunger". I know I claimed I would only post this chapter if three people donated 200 grains. Although I realize this has not happened yet, I think the best thing I can do right now to get more rice donated is to publish more of the story. I will be more stern about this chapter's requirement though. So far only 200 grains that I'm aware of have been donated for this story. I apologize to my readers if this story has truly only been worth 200 grains of rice so far.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: See my profile for information about the group Fanfictioners Against World Hunger. Also... Okay, clearly, I've been a little overambitious with my rice requirements for previous chapters. Apparently my previous two chapters weren't good enough yet to merit anymore than 630 grains. I'll just have to try harder. But just so you know, I did hold the story back for an entire day due entirely to the fact that the rice requirements weren't met. I'll delay the next chapter for the same amount of time or longer if the requirements for this chapter (see end author's note) are not met.  
Special thanks to Tigoamy, who donated 230 grains of rice for last chapter.  
Also, thanks to arwenjanelilylyra, who is, I must opine, the best beta 100 grains of donated rice can buy (well... not buy: employ for a chapter more-like.).

disclaimer: www .hplex .org has been of great help in my ability to get any correct canon which I have managed to get right.

Chapter 3

The Sorting Hat's Song

The Marauders were among the first of the Hogwarts students to make it to their seats in the Great Hall. They had taken one of the first horseless carriages up specifically for that purpose.

"What's wrong, Wormtail?" asked Sirius, with a note of concern in his voice that James had only ever heard him use with Peter.

"I hate Thestrals," said Peter with a shudder.

"Even after all these years? You've been seeing them since your third year after your Great Uncle Paul died, haven't you?" asked Lupin curiously. Remus had been seeing the Thestrals since his 4th year, after his father had died in St. Mungos. Remus had gotten over the Thestrals by 5th year.

"They remind me of death," said Peter, shuddering again.

"Petey, no one can kill you in Hogwarts. Dumbledore's the bloody headmaster, isn't he?"

"Yeah," said Peter, but hardly seemed comforted.

James tried to think of a way to cheer his friend up. "Food's coming soon," he pointed out.

Peter smiled, "That's true."

James smiled back at Peter. "See. Everything's going to be all right."

Peter nodded. "I know. Thanks James. Sorry if I've been being annoying lately, I'm just...you know...scared sometimes."

"We'll always protect you Peter," said James.

"I know," said Peter, sincerely. He smiled again. James was glad. He wanted to help his friend out.

And then something happened that made all four Marauders' jaws drop halfway to the floor.

Lily Evans spoke to James. On purpose. She said, "Hey James, mind if we sit here?"

James seemed to be trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Lily involuntarily noticed that he looked cute when he was trying really hard to think. She kicked herself mentally. She was just trying to be friendly to Potter because they were going to have to work with each other. But then again, she supposed that there was nothing wrong with having a cute friend.

After a full five seconds, James spluttered, "Of course you can." After another three seconds he recovered enough to make a joke, saying, "You're the head-girl, you can sit wherever you want."

"Hmm," said Lily. "I suppose that's true. But are Chloe and Marietta _also _allowed to sit wherever they want?"

James was so thrilled that Lily had just joked with him that he couldn't think of a joke of his own. So he simply said with a smile, "As long as they're with you." Lily smiled back.

The other Marauders couldn't decide whether to be more surprised that Lily had smiled at James, or that James couldn't seem to come up with anything witty to say to her.

"So…how was your summer, Pot- James?" asked Lily. Why was it so hard to switch to calling him by his first name?

"We should start calling you Pot, too, James," said Sirius, before James had a chance to answer.

"Be nice," scolded Lily. But then she smiled again. If she was going to be nice to James that meant she had to be nice to all the Marauders, not just Lupin like she normally was.

"My summer was fine," said James, automatically. Then he thought about it some more. "Pretty fantastic, actually."

"Glad to hear it," said Lily with a smile. It was getting easier and easier to smile at James. She couldn't figure out why; but at least it suited her plan to get along with the guy who, only hours ago, she had considered to be the worst Head-Boy of all time.

"Oh, here comes the firsties!" said Peter.

"Geez they look scared," said Chloe.

"Peeves must have gotten to them," said Remus.

"Oh good old Peeves," said James. He noticed Lily raise her eyebrows. He'd been looking at her a lot since she sat down, and Lily was surprised to realize she didn't mind.

"Everyone be quiet, the sorting hat's going to sing!" said Marietta with an excited grin.

"She likes it 'cause it rhymes," explained Chloe with a smirk.

"I said 'shhhh!'" whispered Marietta.

Lily and James shared a smile.

The sorting hat began to sing.

_One day the brave old Gryffindor took me off his head,_

_And decided that it'd be wiser if I did the deciding instead,_

_I can always tell a clever student where she belongs,_

_That is of course, among Ravenclaw's great throngs,_

_But far more students are made of hard-working stuff,_

_And those are the children who belong in Hufflepuff._

_The students who hold such noble blood within_

_Are those who belong in the house of mighty Slytherin,_

_And the students who will never forget what they are fighting for,_

_Are the ones who belong in the house of my old owner__,__ Gryffindor._

_Everyone remember to trust who is in your own house,_

_Any who would betray a housemate is truly a louse._

_Times outside have been getting rough,_

_but no witch or wizard is made of fluff._

_So each of you must come to Hogwarts to learn,_

_and when you leave everyone will reap what they earn._

The sorting hat stopped. After the applause, chatter immediately began.

"I think the last bit was directed at us older students... reap what you earn," said Remus.

"Almost sounds ominous somehow, doesn't it?" asked Chloe contemplatively.

But no one had a chance to respond, as the Deputy Headmistress and head of the Ravenclaw house - Andrea Artimandura, who taught Arithmancy - silenced the crowd.

"Well, let the sorting begin," she said, and began reading off names.

As usual, Hufflepuff got the most students, Ravenclaw the second most, and Gryffindor and Slytherin got the about the same number. Hufflepuff netted 20; Ravenclaw 17; Gryffindor 16; and Slytherin 15.

After the sorting was over, Headmaster Dumbledore rose to make a speech.

"Good evening to my friends old and new. I am glad you all made it safely back to school this year," over half the students frowned as they remembered the poor Hufflepuff 4th year who had been killed along with his family by Death Eaters the summer before last.

"Now that everyone knows to which house they belong, I would like to say a few words about this school year. There is a popular muggle saying: that 'knowledge is power'. That, my dear students, is nowhere more true than in the magical world, where the knowledge of what spell to use could literally save your life. We have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year, his name is Julian Aurelius. He is highly qualified, and will be making sure that every student here knows as much as they can about the Dark Arts, which will be one of your most important subjects this year. Of course, as my colleague Minerva McGonagall - Head of the Gryffindor House, for those of you who haven't met her yet - will tell you, transfiguration can get you out of many tight spots as well; many potions can save your life faster than even a trip to St. Mungo's could; a well placed charm is never useless either. What I am trying to impress on you, my charges, is that we are living in a time when lines are being drawn between good and evil. And those of you who pick the right side of that fight will need to know how to protect yourself from those who fail to do so.

"Of course, not everything that can save a life can be taught in a school. But it is my job and your professors' job, this year more than ever before, to make sure that you all have the knowledge you need in order to be safe. I apologize sincerely for having to burden the opening of this year at this great institution of learning with such a melancholy speech. But it needed to be done, and it needed to be done tonight, because classes start tomorrow and there are few spells that you will be learning this year which could not, under the right circumstances, save your life. Now, if I haven't spoiled your appetite, it is time for us to feast together as friends before we make our respective ways to bed."

Food appeared on the table. There was silence in the great hall for a full three seconds before Sirius, compelled to break what was for him entirely too long of a pause in noise, yelled, "Luckily, I don't think anything could spoil Evans' appetite!"

The exclamation was so random, especially because he chose to use Lily's name, that almost three-quarters of the people in the Great Hall burst out into laughter. James turned to Lily who was, to his continued amazement, sitting beside him, and their eyes met for a moment. James was reminded for the thousandth time in his life how beautiful Lily Evans looked when she laughed. Lily could somehow tell that was what James was thinking; she was surprised to find she almost didn't mind.

After Sirius broke the tension, people began to eat, talk, and generally have an almost normal Welcome Feast. But of course, after the speech Dumbledore had given, it couldn't be totally normal.

The first evidence, for Lily, of this fact, was when James opened his mouth, and the first thing out of it was serious, genuine, and even thought-provoking.

"Dumbledore was talking to us. The seventh years I mean. I think he's planning something. I don't know what. But I know a man like Dumbledore...He just...He wouldn't let Voldemort win."

Lily, Sirius, Lupin, and Marietta all nodded thoughtfully. Chloe and Peter each had a pained look on their face.

"Please James," begged Peter in a pathetic tone of voice that pained Lily to hear, "I've asked you not to use the name. He scares me."

"And I've told you, you've got nothing to be scared of Petey. We'll _always _protect you," said Sirius.

Peter looked a little more confident now. He was clearly struggling very hard to be brave.

"Why don't you say the name, Peter?" asked Lupin. "Maybe it'll help you not be scared of the name. It's only a name, after all."

"V-v-vollll-" Peter was struggling so much it seemed cruel to Lily to make him continue.

"Couldn't we maybe... Call him something else?" Lily wondered.

James looked thoughtful for a minute. Lily wondered if she had ever seen James look thoughtful when he wasn't sitting in the common room with the marauders whispering quietly about their next prank. She didn't think so.

"Well of _course_ we can call him something else. We could call him jalapeno for all I care. Unless anybody here is scared of jalapenoes," said James with a slight grin.

"What about by his real name?" offered Chloe.

"What, you mean Riddle?" asked Sirius. "He isn't much of a riddle. He's a bloody evil git. No mystery involved."

"Er. Point taken," said Chloe.

"What about Tom?" asked Marietta.

"Or Tommy!" said Lupin.

"Ickle Tommykins," said James decisively.

All seven of the teens laughed.

"Fine. For Peter's sake, we call him Ickle Tommykins. Or Kinny for short. Because let's face it, 'Ickle Tommykins' is kind of a long name," resolved Lupin with an air of finality.

"Good. Got that problem solved. Which is a relief, don't get me wrong," said James sarcastically. "So now we just have to figure out how to kill him."

"_We _don't have to figure out anything, you just said Dumbledore will fix it, didn't you?" asked Peter nervously. Lily had never spent enough time around Peter to realize how annoyingly nervous he was. She wondered briefly why the sorting hat had put him in Gryffindor. But then again, the sorting hat was never wrong, was it?

"I think Dumbledore might use us somehow. Well, not _use_ us, let us help. Once we're of age, you know?" said James. Lily nodded. James was making sense lately. It was weird. She was looking straight into James' eyes, but she was telling herself that the reason for that was that she didn't want to look at Peter. She was sure he looked horrified, and she couldn't bear to see it.

"How could we help?" asked Marietta.

"Fight the death-eaters," said Sirius.

"Well. And kill Kinny," said James.

"You'd really kill people?" asked Chloe.

"Ickle Tommykins? In a heartbeat. Probably some Death Eaters, although it's probably ok to just take them prisoner most of the time. Unless you're outnumbered. Then you don't have time to think about being nice," said James.

"You've put a lot of thought into this," said Lily. There was no surprise in her voice. She had pretty quickly become acquainted with the fact that James could be thoughtful. Now she just wished she had noticed it before today. Perhaps they could have been friends. Perhaps they could even still be friends. It was no use holding a grudge anymore about what he had done to Snape. Snape hadn't talked to her for all of Sixth year. She sometimes wondered why.

"Haven't you?" asked Sirius.

"Well... not much," admitted Lily. "I prefer to think of happier things."

"So do all of us," said James. "But sometimes you have to be prepared for the worst."

Lily nodded solemnly. She thought she heard Peter let out a moan, but she tried to ignore it. "Of course, you're right," she said, mildly aware that she had never expected to say those words to James Potter.

"Why don't we talk about more cheerful things for now though?" asked Marietta. "We're safe while we're in Hogwarts at least. So let's take a break from thinking about the future and just think about being students for now."

"Yeah, students who wish the dessert would get out here soon," agreed Peter.

"Students who would particularly like some chocolate pudding, perhaps?" asked James.

"Ooooh, yes!" Lily practically screamed. She had almost forgot there was going to be chocolate pudding, of which the Hogwarts variety was the best in the world bar-none, as far as Lily was concerned.

The thought crossed James mind that he wished he could make Lily scream "Oooooh, yes!" under different circumstances. He was glad Lily couldn't read his mind. He was sure she would be disgusted at what he just thought, and it would ruining [ruin] what appeared to be, miraculously, a burgeoning friendship between the pair. And James was hoping like hell that it would somehow turn into something more than a friendship.

After dinner ended, having been filled with more pleasant conversation for its remainder, the students all got up from the table.

"Anything we need to do tonight?" James asked Lily. "As Head Boy and Girl?"

"No, prefects are pretty much in charge tonight. First thing we have to do is patrol the hallways together during late-shift on Wednesday."

"Right," responded James. "Ok, great. Er... Today's Monday, right? I always lose track during the summer.

Lily smiled. "Yes James. It's Monday. We'll teach you your days of the week yet."

James smiled back at Lily. "Well. I'll let you walk with your friends." Marietta and Chloe were a few paces ahead, the rest of the Marauders a few paces behind.

"Who says you're not my friend?" asked Lily. "Or don't you want to be?"

James looked sincerely shocked. "No, of course I want to be your friend, I think you're- a really great person."

Lily smiled, flattered in spite of herself. "Really great, huh? Not something a girl minds hearing every once in awhile."

James smiled back. "Well, I'm here to remind you any time you forget Lily." He was slightly scared that she would correct him and tell him to call her Evans when they were talking out of the public eye.

She didn't.

Lily looked at James face. There was something different about it that she couldn't quite work out.

And then she realized. James' smile wasn't cocky. It was just... sweet.

A/N: Next Chapter costs 2000 grains from freerice. I don't care how many people it takes to get that high. On a related note I'm going to do what many before me have done and appeal to natiionalism: Between the posting of this chapter and the posting of the next, there will be the first monthly Marauders & Lily freerice World Cup. Country that donates most grains wins. Of course, don't lie about how many grains you donate, it defeats the whole point of what I'm trying to do here.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Fanfictioners Against World Hunger is still rather desperately seeking a third member. It's going to be a very chill group, and you won't have to do anything you don't feel comfortable with. As I've mentioned, all you have to do is play freerice occasionally and encourage others to the same. Come on. I can't imagine that there are any fanfictioners that are actually in _favor _of world hunger. So why not join? Think of it this way: the next two people to join will be among the groups "Four Founders."

Thanks to my beta arwenjanelilylyra.

Disclaimer: The "Things Overheard at Hogwarts" column I mention in the chapter has been inspired by many facebook groups I have seen along similar lines.

Chapter 4

Night Patrol

James discovered that "late-shift" on Wednesday night could more accurately have been named "early-as-hell shift". "Late" referred to the fact that it was the final shift of the night before curfew was lifted at 6am so that the early risers could get to breakfast early and go to the library. Or whatever it was that early risers did. James wouldn't know, as he'd never been one himself.

He had tried to get some sleep before the shift began at 3 am, but he had not been particularly successful. After leaving the noisy common room at 8 pm, he could not sleep in the quiet 5th year boy's dorm room. It made sense of course. James was usually a night-owl. He should have thought ahead and brewed himself a sleeping-draught. But he had never much liked brewing potions.

Maybe sometime he could have Lily brew him a sleeping draught. She could do it of course, since she had pretty much complete access to Slughorn's private stores. Slughorn would do anything for Lily. But of course, James could hardly blame the man for that.

It wasn't until the first hour of tossing and turning was complete that James realized that most of the reason he couldn't sleep was because of Lily. He was so grateful that they were friends now; so hopeful that it might turn into something more; and so scared that he might say something stupid and end the friendship almost immediately after it had begun.

At ten o' clock he heard the door open. He knew none of the other Marauders would be in bed that early, except maybe Remus, but he had early patrol tonight so he had to be in the hallways starting at eleven. His suspicions were confirmed when the footsteps that he heard made their way to Andrew Longbottom's bed. Andrew Longbottom was James' least favorite person among his seven roommates. Not that there was anything too wrong with him, it was just that he seemed anti-social, was always hanging out with Ravenclaws instead of Gryffindors. That made a little bit of sense though, as his girlfriend was some muggle-born Ravenclaw named Liz Chamberlain. But he still didn't like Andrew.

He had liked Frank, who had been a beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he had graduated a couple years ago. Now he was training to become an auror, like James wanted to do when he graduated. He and James still exchanged owls every once in awhile. The last owl James had sent to him was to congratulate him on his recent marriage to Alice Hanson, another Gryffindor from his same year.

James let his mind wander onto the topic of marriage, and how nice it must be to know that you could trust one person to love you for the rest of your life. It would be amazing to just know you could count on someone, no matter what. Hell or high-water, hippogriffs or thestrals, they'd be on your side. And as he thought about this, he became comfortable and sleepy, and became more and more confident that somehow, someway, Lily would fall in love with him and she'd be the one who would be his wife. He hoped to Merlin he was right. As he drifted off to sleep, he became surer and surer that he would be.

James' alarm clock spat water onto his face at 2:30 in the morning. The alarm clock had been a gag gift from Sirius a couple birthdays ago. He had never thought James would actually use it. But James had tried it once and had found that there was nothing in the world that would get you up and alert faster than a stream of cold water hitting your face. It did, however, have the side effect that every morning James' first word was a mumbled curse word. Today he picked a particularly bad one, since he knew the rest of the day was going to suck now that he'd only got four and a half hours sleep.

"Bloody fantastic," James whispered to himself as he began to collect his things for the quick shower that he had planned to take. "Now you've got to try to impress Lily on just over half a night's sleep. You usually can't impress her on a full night's sleep. Brilliant."

He decided to take a cold shower, something that he rarely did, because he felt it would be best to wake himself up more than his alarm clock had. He needed to be at his best for Lily after all.

He arrived in the common room, where Lily and he had agreed to meet, ten minutes early, just in case she had anything to tell him. To his slight surprise, he got there before her. The fire in the common room had died; the other students had gone to bed hours ago. Even though it was only early September, it was a little bit chilly high in the stone tower this early in the morning. But he hardly had time to adjust to the cold before something happened that made him feel warm inside.

Lily Evans walked into the room. And he noticed that somehow, he was more invigorated by her soft smile and her bright green eyes than he had been by the cold shower he had just taken.

Lily noticed how much James perked up when she walked into the room. She had to admit to herself that she liked it. She knew she wouldn't have enjoyed seeing James excited last year, or even last month. But something had changed somehow.

"Hi, James," she said.

He smiled when he heard her say his name. "Hi, Lily," he said. "You ready to teach me how to do night-time patrol?"

"Well, yes, I'm ready to teach you," said Lily, who sat down beside him. She didn't sit too close to him, but certainly closer than she would have sat to him the year before. This fact was not lost on James, although he pretended not to notice. "But there's really not much to teach. All we really do is patrol the hallways together. Catch rulebreakers, take points from their houses. Two teachers are also always on duty as well. They patrol separately. Students patrol together, just in case any rule-breakers turn out to be dangerous. Which they hardly ever do. But it's always good to be on the safe-side."

"Makes sense," said James. "Get to take points from Slytherin's often?"

"Well, yes," said Lily. Then she continued with a sly smile, "It's one of my favorite parts of patrolling."

James seemed only partially to hear her. What he said next caught her rather off guard. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have an amazingly wide range of different smiles?"

"Er... no." Lily hesitated. "Maybe no one's ever taken the time to notice."

"Well I have," said James.

"Thank you," whispered Lily. She was getting embarrassed. She wasn't sure what was going on with James or how to deal with it. She didn't know if she wanted it to stop.

James sensed Lily's embarrassment, and decided he'd better break the tension. "So. Off to catch some Slytherins then?"

Lily seemed to be still lost in thought for a moment before she responded, "Er... Yeah. It's just about time. And nothing wrong with getting an early start right?"

"It's never too early to take points from Slytherin," confirmed James. Lily laughed a little. She seemed more comfortable. James was glad.

They exited the portrait-hole. They ignored the quiet grumblings of the Fat-Lady, who was less than happy about being awoken from her slumber. Each of them had gotten used to waking up the fat-lady late at night: Lily in her execution of her duties as prefect, and James in pursuit of his hobby as a Marauder.

"So, er, how was your day?" asked James, unsure of how to start what promised to be a three hour long conversation as they made their way through the halls.

"Not bad. It's hard for me to have a bad day on a day when there's Charms Class," said Lily.

"Right. I've noticed that you're fantastic at it. Of course, everyone has. That and potions," said Lily.

"Not as useful as being good at Defence Against the Dark Arts like you are," observed Lily.

"You're good at it, too!" protested James.

"Well... maybe. But not as good as you. You're brilliant at it," said Lily.

James hoped that Lily could not see him blush in the torch-light that was illuminating the hallways.

They reached a hallway where they could go either right or left. "Which way?" asked James, deferring to Lily's judgment.

"I prefer left," said Lily. Then she realized that that statement might sound a little weird. "You develop habits when you go on night patrol enough times. I usually go left here, unless the person I'm with prefers to go right."

"Well, I prefer to go where ever you're going Lily," said James. She noticed that she liked the way he said her name.

They turned left.

"So how was your day?" she asked. "Pretty good. Wish I had slept better tonight."

"Yeah... this is a tough shift. Hard to get to sleep so early, right?" asked Lily.

"Yes indeed," confirmed James.

"Hmmm," said Lily, trying to think of something else to say. Night patrols seemed to go so much faster if you talked to the person you were with. Even quicker if you were with a friend. And now, as shocked as she still was about it, James was a friend of hers. "What's your second favorite class, after DADA?"

James thought a moment before responding. "I suppose Quidditch doesn't count as a class?"

"No, James," said Lily with a laugh.

"Why? I spend as much time doing that as I spend on any of my classes," said James.

"Yeah, and I spend as much time talking to Marietta and Chloe as I do studying for Charms. Does that make that a class?" asked Lily jokingly.

"Hmmm," said James. "Not potions, definitely. No offence to you, Miss Potions-Making Princess."

Lily laughed. "I'm not sure I'd be too surprised if Slughorn gave me a plaque with that exact name on it when I graduate."

James laughed too. "I don't think anyone in our year would. Charms is a fun class, and I know transfiguration's damn useful, but... frankly I'm not sure which one I'd put in second. DADA is just so far and away my favorite class that it's hard to come up with a second one."

"So do you believe there's really a curse on the DADA post?" asked Lily.

"I dunno... Rumor is that Voldemort cursed it, isn't it. We haven't had the same teacher two years in a row, that's for sure. And most of the time it seemed like coincidence. You know, Rogers moved to India, Andrews went to teach at Durmstrang, a lot of things like that. But at the end of year 5, when McKelly died from that heart attack toward the end of the last term? That was downright eerie. The man was only 60 years old!"

"Yeah, I know," said Lily. "I'm afraid it might be true. But can you imagine how powerful Voldemort would have to be to curse a whole position at Hogwarts?"

"I think we know that he's pretty bloody powerful," James replied. They had reached another intersection in the hallway. "Left or right?" asked James.

"Right," said Lily.

"Hm. I would have guessed left," said James.

"Well, it's good for you to be wrong every once in awhile James. Keeps your head from getting bigger than it already is." Lily had been intending to tell a joke. But she saw from James facial expression that he was hurt.

"I thought-" said James.

Lily cut him off, "Sorry, James, I didn't mean it. I mean, at least not really. You have had a big head before, but... it seems like you're trying to work on it."

James nodded. "I am," he confirmed sincerely.

"I appreciate it. I mean, not that I think you're doing it for me or anything," said Lily.

James decided not to correct her. Now wasn't the time. And James was pretty sure she knew she was lying anyway. He decided to change the subject, "So how _are _Chloe and Marietta? I haven't gotten a chance to talk to them since the feast the other night."

"Too busy with the Marauders, eh?" asked Lily teasingly.

This time James realized she was joking. "Well, that, school work, reading up on extra Defence Against the Dark Arts stuff. We've got our first lesson tomorrow. It's a double-lesson, remember? I'm excited."

"Of course you would be," said Lily with a smile. "D'you think they'll have us practice dueling again?"

"Merlin, I hope so!" James said. Lily thought his excitement was pretty cute.

"You and Sirius had some pretty epic duels last year, I seem to recall," said Lily.

"Yeah, we did," said James, chuckling as he reflected on for what had been for him an experience even more fun than Quidditch. He was flattered that Lily remembered the duels. "But listen, I asked you how your friends were doing, didn't I?"

"Right," said Lily. "Rude of me to try to talk about you," she smiled at James. "We'll take another right up here if you don't mind."

"Sounds great," said James. "How is Marietta?"

"Nervous," replied Lily bluntly. "She's Editor for the Hogwarts student newspaper this year. She's got her first meeting with the staff tomorrow. I keep telling her she's more than qualified, which she is, but... I dunno, she's always a little nervous about the paper. She cares about it so much."

"I never knew she was going to be the editor," said James, somehow almost offended that no one had bothered to tell him.

"Well, she didn't find out until about a week ago. I don't think she meant to keep it a secret from you or anything, you guys just don't talk too much," said Lily.

"Well maybe we should," said James.

"Yeah, maybe. Hey, want to know something cool? They starting a new column called 'Odd Eavesdroppings at Hogwarts.' You know all those things you hear in the great hall in the morning and wonder whether it's possible that you just heard something so funny come out of some stranger's mouth?" asked Lily.

"Yeah... oh, I think I heard one of those this morning. Some Ravenclaw girl said her ex-boyfriend was hung like a house-elf. It didn't sound like a compliment," said James.

Lily giggled. "Oooh, that's bad. But submit it to Marietta. She's got a dirty sense of humor."

"Hey, you laughed too," said James.

"I never said she was the _only _one with a dirty sense of humor," Lily said slyly.

James chuckled heartily. He smiled at Lily. "How about Chloe," asked James.

"A little less dirty than mine," said Lily, purposefully misunderstanding the question.

"No, I meant how's she doing?" James clarified with an eye-roll.

"Pretty well. she's thrilled to be back at school. Studying like crazy though. It's like she's a niffler who thinks there's some gold stuffed between the pages. She's going to get a crazy number of N.E.W.T.s."

"That's good," said James. "As long as she still makes time for fun."

Lily nodded. "Oh, I make sure she does."

"Good," said James.

"How are the other Marauders?" asked Lily. And they continued to talk, almost until the end of their shift, catching a couple people out for late-night snogs, but generally having an uneventful night.

Throughout the conversation, though, there was a thought that kept nagging at Lily. One that she was almost sure she knew the honest answer to already, but she just had to be sure. She knew it wasn't a question she should ask James. Not now, not under the circumstances, not so soon after she had finally allowed herself to become his friend. But she just couldn't let it go, no matter how hard she tried.

So about three minutes before shift was to end, and they could both go back up to their rooms and catch a quick hour-long nap before having to get up in order to catch breakfast before it was taken off the tables by the house-elves.

"James," she said, in a voice so sombre and sincere that it disturbed him. "Do you love me?" she asked.

"Yes, Lily," James said without a moment's hesitation. He paused. Looking at Lily. Wondering if she would say she loved him too. She wasn't saying anything. Finally, he started to stutter, "Lily, do you-"

Lily could make him finish the question. Not with the answer she was about to give him. She grimaced, hoping the answer wouldn't hurt her new friend too badly. She said, "I'm sorry James... I don't know yet."

A/N: Let's try for 3000 grains this time. Come on you guys, I know you can do it! That is www dot freerice dot com. You can donate as much or as little as you like, just be honest. And remember, it's free. All you have to do is play a game that helps w/ vocabulary building and other topics. Give it a shot, would you? I put hours of my time into writing this chapter for you. Please put 5 minutes in to play free rice for me. By the way... the World Cup of Free Rice has been extended 'cause... apparently I can do that. Britain is ahead with 1000 grains, although this is not yet confirmed given that the person who donated those grains is my beta and she hasn't left a review confirming that she's actually donated it. I believe her though, so that's why Britain is currently in first. Canada has 800 grains because of Lizztigger. Two people who have not identified themselves with any country have given a combined total of 200+x grains. So. To review: Britain's winning (although unofficially at the moment), Canada's in a close and very respectful Second. People wishing to be unidentified with any country are in a distant country. And the United States has apparently forfeited. So far. I mean. they could come back if they want to... or if there's generous people in the United States, or... well: I'm just saying it could happen. Other countries are encouraged to get involved. Cup will continue indefinitely. I'll give you a warning when it's close to over. Plot will pick up soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Dueling Tournament

Thursday was the day that James had inaccurately called "tomorrow" early that same morning. Sleep deprivation will do that to a person. At any rate, after lunch period, the marauders were making their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts Class, a class that they shared with the Slytherins.

The topic of conversation was not that of the surprising revelation that Lily Evans was now unsure of whether she was in love with him or not. James had bragged to the other Marauders about this perceived huge victory at both breakfast and lunch, and the other Marauders were very nearly at the point of being prepared to physically restrain him if he talked about the topic again. Sensing this fact, James decided to do mostly listening on the way to the DADA double session that afternoon.

This allowed Sirius casually to mention, "I'm breaking up with Electra soon."

"Really?" asked Remus. "I thought you were into her?"

"Well, she turned out to be not a lot more than a pretty face... well, and a good body, too. Not that i saw too much of it," pointed out Sirius.

"But that all sounds like good stuff," said Peter.

Sirius shook his head. "I'm not saying there wasn't some good snogging... And she has this really cute pair of shorts I got to see the other night in the broom closet, but... Looks honestly isn't enough, Petey. I mean, poor girl isn't interesting... She doesn't even like Quidditch."

"Hmmm," said James. "I'd still like Lily if she didn't like Quidditch."  
"We know that," said Sirius, "but Lily's got quite a bit going for her aside from her looks, I mean she's talented, brave, and funny... and I can tell all that without even loving her. I can't imagine all you see in her. But Electra doesn't have any of those qualities. I suppose Hufflepuff House isn't actually famous for any of those qualities, so maybe I was just dumb for thinking I should date a Hufflepuff, but... Anyway, we had a few good snogging sessions and we're just about done."

"So do you have someone on your mind to see next? Or are you just sick of her?" asked Remus.

"Little bit of both, I think" said Sirius, though he used a tone of voice that made it clear that he was in little mood to talk about the subject anymore.

So Peter changed the subject. "What do you think the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor will be like. Is Julian Aurelius his name?"

"Yeah," Remus said "Marcy Clapton from Ravenclaw, who I did my rounds with last night, says he was really cool and all in class yesterday. They had a dueling competition on the first day and learned a new spell that sounded pretty cool. But now we're going to have to learn the rest in person since we've just reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts room."

And so they had. They walked inside to see that they were the first ones in the classroom, except for Julian Aurelius. Julian Aurelius looked to be about 35, with dark, long, scraggly hair, and dark eyes. It was his eyes that made him look so much older than the rest of his face and body looked. They looked somehow too wise, and they were surrounded with lines that seemed to indicate that he was concerned far more often than anyone ought to have to be.

James was immediately curious as to what made this young man so old, but he was unable to spend a lot of time on the thought process, as Marianne, Chloe, and Lily came in. This was not unusual. Gryffindors usually made it to Defence Against the Dark Arts far before the Slytherins.

Lily said "Hi," to the other marauders, but barely waved at James. This was fine with James. After all, it made perfect sense if she were embarrassed by what had happened early this morning. James himself nearly was except that, first of all, he did not embarrass particularly easy, and he wasn't the one who had just confessed that he may or may not love someone. He, at least, had had the courage to make a strong decision one way or another. And in Gryffindor, that was less embarrassing than equivocating.

James smiled at Lily though, and simply said, "Hey, Lily. I just wanted to thank you for what you said last night. And take as much time as you need."

His thanks was sincere. Going from not even friends to having her unsure of whether she might love him was a big leap. Besides, he didn't expect Lily to be unsure for too long. She had strongly disliked him for 6 years straight. Lily was a girl of strong emotions. He figured that now that she no longer basically hated, he was looking instead at either strong friendship or, hopefully, love. And he could wait as long as it took.

Lily, surprised at his kindness and lack of badgering found the courage to smile back at him. Why not? She liked smiling at James.

The remaining Gryffindors, and the already irritated looking Slytherins came into the room. It was common knowledge that most of them would rather be learning the Dark Arts than learning to defend against them, but Lily rather wondered why they couldn't have the common courtesy to at least pretend this wasn't the case during class time. But then again, common courtesy was hardly something that the Slytherins were known for. Lily's eyes met those of Severus Snape, and both of them looked away, embarrassed. Lily was embarrassed that she had once been friends with someone who was so obviously obsessed with the Dark Arts. She could only imagine what Snape was embarrassed about. She reckoned she did not want to know.

"Greetings to your first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the semester. As you may have heard from your peers in different classes, I want to start this class off with a simple defence spell, which we will then use in our first dueling competition of the semester. The incantation for the spell is simply "Principium," and, if you are successful in getting it to hit your opponent, it means that you are the next one who will be able to cast a spell in the duel. It works best, of course, in one on one duels, but most wizards still consider this to be the most noble way to fight. It is possible to hit two wizards or witches with this spell at once, but that requires great magical power, and generally much practice. It can, unfortunately, be blocked by a simple "protego" spell, but if you are in a fight with a Dark Wizard, you will often find that he is more concerned about hurting you than protecting himself, so he is more likely to be getting ready to perform the Cruciatus curse on you than setting up a Protego for himself. Mind you, this spell can stop every spell except for Avada Kedavra if you are able to hit your opponent with your spell before he has cast his. I hope all this hasn't been too terribly confusing for the first day of class. What say you?" asked Aurelius.

Even the Slytherins grudgingly shook their heads "no," indicating that the new spell was not too hard. It was, Lily thought, an interesting spell to use though, if you were in a pinch, to give you the chance to cast the next spell. Expelliarmus could often do the same, but using that spell could lead to all kinds of difficulties... If the wizard was prepared for it, they could grip tighter and might not lose the wand, and if the wizard was lucky enough to have a particularly loyal wand, that made execution of the spell even more difficult. James had tucked away the spell in his head, as he had done with almost every Defense Against the Dark Arts spell he had come across, but he was personally more interested in getting the duels underway. And luckily, it turned out that this was where Professor Aurelius' head was at as well.

"Right, well, first of all, I'd like to ask you all to come up here and line up against the front of the room. I'm about to do a quick rearrangement of the room for which it would be in your best interest not to be in the middle of the room," he said. The class complied. It was easy to tell that Aurelius was not the sort of man who wasted words, so if he told you to do something, it was most likely because it really needed to be done.

After the class got to the front of the room, Lily found herself, completely by accident, standing next to James Potter, with the odd desire to reach out and grab his hand, and maybe never let go. This sort of thought, she reflected, was one of the reasons that she thought perhaps she loved him. But love wasn't the sort of thing that just developed in a week, was it? And certainly not towards someone who had been so much of a prat to her as James had over the last 6 years. Didn't he, just maybe, need to earn her love a bit more. Or maybe she just needed to figure out what this whole "love" thing was before she knew whether she was having it toward James.

Her thoughts were broken into by the strong, commanding voice of Professor Aurelius. It wasn't until she looked up (she realized she had been staring at the floor in thought) that she realized that Aurelius had moved all the desks to the edges of the room.

"We shall be dueling," said Aurelius. "The goal is to render your opponent incapable of fighting. That can be done in a number of ways, such as acquiring your opponent's wand or rendering your opponent paralyzed. Of course, there are other distracting spells you can use. It goes without saying, but no unforgivable curses are allowed, and nothing to intentionally send your opponent to the hospital wing. If you are to use curses, they must be ones with simple remedies. Two duels will be going on at a time, and there's two reasons for that. First of all, I can only really watch two duels at a time, and I want to see what each of your strengths and weaknesses are. Also, there's really not enough space in this room to do any more than two at a time. This is a tournament, but we can't have only the winners duel, because we've got two periods here, and it can't just be a waste of time for people who lose. Those who lose will continue to duel with each other in consolation rounds, and the best of the duelers in the consolation bracket will duel for the chance to face the winner and dethrone him or her. The prize will be 50 house points for first place, 25 for second, and 20 for third. You lot ready to begin?"

Even the Slytherins looked eager, now that the prospect of house points had been thrown into the mix. No doubt they thought they could sweep and take 95 house points. Arrogant bastards, Lily thought. James was thinking approximately the same thing but in a more vulgar way.

"Let's start with some 'friendly' duels. That is, people dueling against those in their same house. There's only 32 of you, less than I had of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws combined yesterday, but we still might as well whittle it down to 8 per house pretty quick."

Lily was one of the first Ravenclaws to duel, in contest against Meagan Weber. Meagan Weber was one of those Gryffindor girls who cheered the loudest for James at the Quidditch match, and had probably had a close encounter in a broom closet with Sirius Black at least once.

As soon as Aurelius said "go", Lily had cast a Principium spell, eager to use the spell she had just learned.

Meagan Weber must have hesitated, because by the time she cast her "petrificus totalus" it did absolutely nothing. Lily had the advantage, as she now had the next spell to cast. "Expelliarmus!" Lily yelled loudly and powerfully. The wand crashed against the wall behind Meagan. "Accio wand!" yelled Lily, before Meagan had a chance to recover it by non-magical means. Lily had won Gryffindor's first round.

Some chap who none of the Gryffindors associated with, Paul Everton, won the first round for the Slytherins.

James won his first round, which happened to be against Andrew Longbottom, who he managed to cast a jelly-legs curse on before disarming him, therefore making it unnecessary for James even to accio Andrew's wand, since it was apparent that he would not be able to retrieve it from 15 paces away without even being able to stand up straight on his own two feet.

During all this, James had missed the action going on in the Slytherin match-up, but by the time he looked over, Andrew Flint had somehow managed to give boils and visible bruises to Marcus Vice. Vice and Flint were rivals within the Slytherin house. James didn't pay much attention to those sort of internal politics where his own house wasn't involved, but Flint seemed to be using this match as an excuse to hurt Vice moreso than actually to win. Shortly after James had started watching, Vice, whose boils had started to puss and bleed, managed to aim a well-placed petrificus totalus curse and end the match. He went back to the wall where a girl who James assumed was dating Vice quickly performed some quick charms on his wounds and boils to get him feeling better. Flint did not seem to care at all that he had lost.

James walked over to Lily, who looked a little shaken up by the cruelty she had just seen. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry Lily, you'd have him petrified before he even had a chance to give you boils." Lily smiled at James and he was glad that she didn't take her shoulder away from his hand. He even dared to rub her shoulder for a bit before she made a face that told him that that was too much just now.

Lily continued to smile at him, "Nice trick with the jelly-legs by the way."

"Thanks. You did well yourself you know. I suppose next round won't be 'friendly,' as Aurelius is calling it, but hopefully I'll get to duel you in the third round."

"I'm not sure you want a piece of this, Potter," said Lily with a smug grin.

"I'm back to Potter, now?" asked James, with a note of fake hurt in his voice.

"Only when I'm trash-talking you. Potter," said Lily, who then smiled again. Merlin, her smile was cute.

Not too much notable happened the first round. Remus and Sirius both advanced, as did Chloe and Marietta. Peter did not.

The next round was Gryffindors versus Slytherins. In the winners' bracket, Lily easily beat a girl named Maxima Goyle, who, as James was aware, had two brothers. Marietta, Remus, and Sirius all advanced this round, too, although most other Gryffindors dropped. Chloe fell to Michael Prewett, who was the first Prewett to be sorted into Slytherin in decades. He managed to expelliarmus her wand quickly, and then gave her boils while she was going to grab it, before performing the accio charm to get it. It was foul play, and it left the Gryffindors indignant. Many wondered why Aurelius didn't call foul or something.

The most interesting match in the winners bracket in the second round, however, was without a doubt that between James Potter and Severus Snape.

James wasn't scared, but he had become aware that, over the past year or so, Snape had acquired the ability to beat almost anybody in a fair fight. He was still confident he could win, but he was slightly wary that Snape might give him boils, bruises, cuts, or something else that would not feel remotely pleasant. The loser's-bracket duel going on at the same time was that between Peter and Flint.

When "go!" was called, James immediately yelled "Protego!"

Snape yelled "expelliarmus!" and the spell was so strong that it broke the protego charm and required James to hold on tight to his wand in order to properly keep hold of it.

Knowing that neither of them had the advantage yet, James yelled "Principium!" at the same time as Snape yelled "Expelliarmus!" James wasn't sure who had gotten his spell off first.

When his wand flew out of his hand, he knew. Shit, thought James, he didn't want to lose to Snape. But the duel wasn't over yet. He was still standing. He turned his back on Snape to try to retrieve his wand, listening astutely for what his next spell would be, wondering if he would go for some spiteful curse, Petrificus Totalus, or if he would simply accio his wand.

Snape seemed to be hesitating over the same question, because James was within several strides of his wand before he heard Snape yell "Accio wand!"

But because it was a long spell to say, and because he was so close, James had a moment to crouch down into a jumping position, and watch the wand as it began to rise from the ground. It was off faster than a Bludger going toward a seeker, but James was just a little faster. He placed his non-wand hand in front of the projectile wand, and used his wand hand to grab it tight. It worked, even though James had hardly dared to expect it to.

Every Gryffindor in the room was cheering.

Snape, however, seemed to be done playing around, as he yelled "Petrificus Totalus."

But James had one more surprise maneuver left in him. He ducked to the ground, simultaneously pointing his wand at Snape and yelling "Expelliarmus!" He yelled "Accio Wand!" without even waiting to notice whether his first spell had gotten through all right. Within seconds, he had Snapes wand.

Flint had beaten Peter by giving him the Petrificus Totalus curse, in spite of the fact that he had wasted time by giving him boils and a bloody nose, too. Peter was not nearly as talented as the rest of the Marauders. Remus quickly tidied him up.

James was wondering why Snape had not fought dirtier. James was somewhat relieved, but mostly surprised, that Snape had performed no magic to give him boils, hurt him, or cut him. Perhaps he had wanted to win, or perhaps he, unlike Prewett and Flint, was unwilling to draw attention to his propensity toward painful curses this early in a new class with a new teacher.

James made his way over to talk to Lily.

"Fantastic duel, James," she said. James thought it was the strongest compliment he had ever gotten from her.

Then, "Oh Merlin, James, you're bleeding!" shouted Lily, looking at his non-wand hand, with which he had caught his wand.

"Er... I hadn't noticed," said James.

"Well let me fix it," said Lily, and she took his hand tenderly in hers as she performed a simple healing charm. James had to fight a strong urge to kiss her.

In the 3rd round, then, the 8 duelers left standing were Marietta, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Prewett, Vice, and some Slytherin named Dolohov.

Lily took on Prewett, and looked eager to avenge Chloe's pain.

Lily went for a disarming spell first. It worked, but only barely, and Prewett leapt on it before Lily was able to bring it to herself. Lily was in the midst of putting a Protego charm up when Prewett mumbled a spell that no one could quite hear. Lily's beautiful face was immediately covered with warts. This seemed to throw her off for a moment, especially as the Slytherins were laughing, but Prewett was momentarily distracted by his opportunity to revel in someone else's embarrassment.

James knew the best way to give Lily the offensive back was to make the Slytherin's lose their sense of humor. "Don't worry Lily, dearest, just keep the warts there. That way you'll look just like the rest of the Slytherin purebloods and old Tommykins won't be able to tell the difference."

All the Slytherins stopped laughing. The few that understood what James might possibly mean glared at him furiously. Snape, Flint, and Prewett all glared. Now the Gryffindors were laughing instead. While Prewett was distracted, Lily caught a moment to petrify him. Afterwards, she removed her own warts.

James beat Vice with little effort. A simple "expelliarmus" nearly splintered his wand against the wall, and James immediately petrified him.

Marietta beat Remus in a good fight, Black handily defeated Dolohov.

After all this dueling, it was now nearing the end of the second period, especially since now most of the duels were amongst the losers.

The round of 4 was Marietta versus Sirius, and Lily versus James.

At this point, Aurelius made an announcement, "Since there are only Gryffindor duelers left, I will have it be a Slytherin who fights to get back one of the top spots. The two most talented Slytherin duelers, in my judgment, are Flint and Prewett. We will have them duel before the round of four. From now on, all duels shall be individual; we will all be watching the same duel."

The Flint and Prewett duel, however, turned out not to be terribly exciting. They were clearly in the same clique in Slytherin. There were no dirty tricks, and in fact it almost seemed like Prewett wasn't even really trying hard. After a bit of sparring, Flint petrified Prewett.

Aurelius looked puzzled, but nevertheless announced, "The Slytherin Challenger, then, shall be Flint."

Lily and James were set to duel. "No hard feelings either way, right Lily?" asked James before they began.

"Of course not," said Lily. "Just don't give me any boils." She smiled at him. To be honest, that was almost enough to disarm James in and of itself.

When they began, Lily started with a Principium spell while James tried expelliarmus to start. Lily's wand went no where. James braced himself for what the next spell might be, and got ready to duck, dive, or dodge, as the case may call for.

Lily yelled "Petrificus Totalus!" apparently going for the immediate kill.

James, already having noted the direction that her wand was pointed, dove out of the way.

"Accio wand!" he yelled, putting all his magical strength behind the spell, trying to acquire the wand before disarming Lily. He could see Lily struggling to keep the wand in her hand, but soon it broke out and flew into James' hand.

"Unbelievable," congratulated Lily, after the match. "But then I've always said you were better at DADA than me. You'll just have to protect me all the time," she said. James perceived that she was only partially joking.

Sirius and Marietta dueled for a good long time before either of them was able to come up with a disabling spell. Somehow, though, with the way they dueled, both James and Lily were tempted to tell their respective friend to get a room. Or at least a broom closet. Finally, however, Sirius petrified Marietta, and as filthy minded as she felt for thinking it, Lily wondered if petrified was perhaps the way Sirius preferred his dates.

That meant that the final round was between Sirius and James.

James knew better than to fool around with anything like "Protego" with Sirius. He'd break through it with a single spell.

So James yelled "Petrificus Totalus!"

Sirius dodged the spell with ease as he shouted Expelliarmus. The wand left James' right hand, but he caught it with his left.

James knew enough about Sirius to know that he always dodged to his right. So James started to say "Petrificus Totalus," and then at the last moment, pointed his wand up and to the right. Sirius became petrified in midair.

Aurelius announced, "So for this final match, whoever wins comes in first. If it's Flint, he takes 50 points for Slytherin, and first place. If he loses, however, he takes third place."

James and Flint eyed each other up before the duel took place. They both knew they hated each other. Both seemed to sense instinctively that they'd meet on a battlefield someday.

When Aurelius yelled "Go!", James was simply quicker.

He yelled "Expelliarmus!" in the same amount of time that it took Flint to yell "Cru-!"

But the rest of the spell never made it out of Flint's mouth, much less did it make James' body writhe in pain, because Flint's wand flew out of his hand, and before it touched the floor, James had said the spell needed to bring it into his hand. James was pleased that he and Sirius had gotten first and second place, and as far as he was concerned, Lily had properly gotten third.

Aurelius was furious though. "Flint! Detention for a week!"

"For what?" asked Flint trying to play innocent.

"I highly suspect that you were planning to use the Cruciatus Curse on another student. If I could prove that, you wand would be snapped faster than you could say 'Merlin's Beard.' But I suppose your father's a death-eater and has other ways of getting you wands, doesn't he? At any rate, it's strictly possible, though doubtful, that you had intended to say "Cruxio," which would have drawn a red line on your opponent's chest. Therefore, you are simply being punished for your general cruelty during today's tournament."

A/N: Other stuff was supposed to happen this chapter, but DADA took forever. Please donate rice if you think this chapter was worth it, although it is not a requirement that you do. My attempts at quotas has not worked out, so I must simply have faith that the chapter will earn what it's worth. Let me know what you thought about the chapter and/or the story to this point.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Last chapter received no reviews. Hopefully this one will receive some.

Chapter 6

Midnight Patrol

Wariness, Lily knew, was not an expression the Marauders wore often. Well, Peter maybe. But right now, on Saturday at lunch even James, Sirius, and Remus were quite obviously very concerned.

"What's going on, you lot?" asked Lily as she sat down next to James.

"Talking about Prewett and Flint," said Remus, as Chloe sat down next to him.

"Yeah, I can't even imagine what would drive someone to do what they did," said Chloe. "I've always wanted to think Slytherins really weren't all that bad, but these two certainly are."

"As are all of the death-eaters," said Marietta, sitting down next to Sirius. "And I think just about all of them are Slytherins."

"I just don't want to classify a whole house as evil," said Chloe.

"No one's asking you to," said Lupin. "Just because some members of a group are evil doesn't mean they all are."

"Wise point, Remus, but you said you were talking about Prewett and Flint. What specifically?" asked Lily.

"Well, first of all that Flint tried to Cruciatus my best mate," said Sirius.

"Do you think he'd do it to anyone else?" asked Peter.

"Well, I do think he saved it until the last round for a reason. He might have been targeting me. Or even just some prominent Gryffindor. Maybe he'd' have gone for Lily, too. Then I'd have had to find him down an empty hallway and show him that dark magic isn't the only thing that can make a person wish they hadn't faced someone in a duel," said James.

"You don't have to protect me," said Lily.

"I'd protect any of my friends," said James, and the rest of the marauders nodded in agreement.

"I don't understand why he would try to do something that would land him in Azkaban," said Marietta.

"No, he couldn't have," corrected Lily.

"What are you talking about?" asked James.

"It's in Hogwarts, a History. Ever since 1507, Hogwarts has had a special relationship with the Ministry. Nothing done by a student in Hogwarts, unless it is potentially lethal, can be punished by Azkaban. Worse that can happen is expulsion and the snapping of the wand," said Lily.

"And that includes Cruciatus?" asked James, dumbfounded.

"Absolutely. Back in the early 1500s, the head was a Slytherin. He was considering adding a Dark Arts Class to the curriculum," said Lily.

"Merlin, you know a lot," said James.

"Why don't you two get a room already?" asked Sirius.

"And why ever would they do that?" asked Marietta with fake innocence.

"So they can snog each other within an inch of their lives," answered Sirius with a grin.

"We're just friends," said James with an easy smile. "And, for now, and for as long she wants it, that's enough. Couldn't ask for a better friend," said James.

"Wow, James," said Lily, "that was sweet! Two points!"

"Wait, two points?" asked Chloe. .

"What are points for?" asked Peter.

"Maybe he gets a certain amount and they snog!" said Sirius.

"Or maybe he gets a certain amount and he's her boyfriend!" said Marietta.

"Ooh, that sounds like an excellent idea!" said Sirius.

"Don't I get a vote in this?" asked Lily, who was trying to sound irritated, but was clearly amused with the entire situation.

"Of course you get a vote," Remus pointed out rationally. "You're the one handing out the points. If he gets to... lets say... 200, you try out being boyfriend and girlfriend. You never have to commit to anything until you're ready... It just gives poor James a way to know how close he's getting."

"Well... It feels weird to be having this conversation in front of everyone, but... Things _could _be moving in that direction. But... James, I'll do this just so long as you know that this isn't a guarantee that it will ever get to 200."

"Fine," said James. "I was serious when I said it would be okay if we just stayed friends." James actually wasn't sure whether he was lying or not. Of course, he'd _survive_ if they just stayed friends, and chances were he'd get married to someone else. But he really, _really _wanted to reach 200 points.

Monday night, Lily had night patrol with some fifth year Hufflepuff. That Hufflepuff, James figured, would not be enough to protect Lily if they encountered Flint and Prewett. And James, perhaps predictably, was worried.

"Look, can't we just give her the map?" James asked the other marauders in a hushed voice in the common room Monday Night, after looking around to make sure that no one was eavesdropping.

"'Cause she's not a marauder," Sirius answered simply. "Just because she's been your friend for, oh, a week, doesn't mean we can trust her unconditionally for the rest of her life like we can trust each other. What if you piss her off again and she goes to Dumbledore and tattles on us and we've gotta give up the map."

"Yeah, we don't want to get tattled on," echoed Peter.

James looked to Remus, hoping that he at least would be on his side. He had had a longer friendship with Lily than anyone else there. Remus, however was, as usual, the voice of reason. "James, I understand why you're worried. Flint and Prewett are at least aspiring death-eaters, and, like most Slytherins, they've got a thing against Gryffindors, especially muggle-borns. I don't want them running into Lily and some poor Hufflepuff either. But why don't you look at the map. If it looks like Lily's about to get in trouble, get your ass down there. We know all the secret passages, you could get damn near any where in this castle before they met each other, and let's face it, if you're about 30 seconds late, Lily can hold her own. Besides, saving her ass from future death-eaters would probably be worth at least 5 points," Lupin finished off with a grin.

"I do only have 2 so far. But I'd still rather give her the map. Is this an official 3 to 1 vote against me?" asked James.

"I'm not voting," said Lupin. "Best I could do is make it a tie, and I still kind of think it's a bad idea. But I'm sure you can keep her safe, James. And we're here for you, too, if you need help."

So that night, through the entire 2 hour early shift, James watched the Marauders Map from the Common Room to see if Flint and Prewett moved. But apparently even the evil needed sleep, since they stayed in their bedrooms all night.

For her part, Lily, who had been a little bit worried about Slytherins before she started her shift, felt for some reason safe and protected during her actual shift. And all that she could think of was James. She would have to find an excuse to give him some more points pretty soon. Maybe if he passed the salt in a particularly sexy way at breakfast tomorrow.

Lily wondered for a moment (she had a lot of time to think, as the fifth year Hufflepuff she was paired with was not much of a talker) whether if she was thinking about James so much, she shouldn't just let him be her boyfriend like he wanted so bad. But with the amount that she knew James loved her, she really wanted to know that this was more than friendship and more then a temporary crush, before she started messing with his feelings. She needed to know that she loved him. And she wasn't there yet. But if James got 200 points, she would know.

It was a James with 10 points who woke up at 11:45 on Thursday night to get ready for the middle shift (12-3) that he was going to carry out with a Ravenclaw 6th year named Christine Wood. James knew her already, because she was the Seeker for the Ravenclaw team, and had been responsible for a very disappointing 10 point loss for Gryffindor the previous year. Still, James didn't hold a grudge against good Quidditch players, unless they were from Slytherin, and he was looking forward to talking about this year's Quidditch teams with her. There were certainly worse people who he could be on patrol with, but he would much rather be on patrol with Lily.

Thinking of Lily, he was glad that she had been fairly generous with the points lately. She had given him two points for looking cute while passing the salt on Tuesday morning. Oddly enough, James noticed that she didn't even use the salt. She had given him two points for his smile on Wednesday. And earlier that night, when Marietta, Chloe, Lily and the Marauders had been talking in the common-room, much to the amusement of the other Marauders, she gave him 4 points for going more than an hour without ruffling his hair.

James grabbed the Marauders' Map, knowing that he could only use it when Christine wasn't there, and only if there was an emergency. Still, it made him feel better to know he had it in case he absolutely needed it. He stuffed his invisibility cloak in his pocket, too, again just for absolute emergencies. His Dad had given the cloak to him in his first year, saying only that it had helped him keep out of trouble at Hogwarts and he hoped it would do the same for his son.

He met Christine Wood between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw common rooms. "So, Wood, care to catch some Slytherin trouble-makers?"

"Sounds great," said Wood, "but how about you call me Christine when we're not on the Quidditch pitch, eh?"

"Fine by me," said James. "And you can call me James. But Potter when I'm scoring points like mad on your Keeper."

"Sounds fair," laughed Christine. "Felt almost bad beating you last year when you scored 200 points on your own. Highest scoring game I've ever been in. What did it end up being?"

"300 to you, 290 to us. And then you lot won the cup, even though we won our other two games. I was terribly jealous, I don't mind telling you," said James. He had not yet won a Quidditch cup. Gryffindor had never had a great seeker while he was playing.

"Have you found a new seeker yet?" asked Christine.

"That's Sirius' job, he's the Captain. You know, Black, one of our beaters?" asked James.

"Yeah, I know who Sirius is. Guess you'd be too busy to be Captain anyway, being Head-boy and all. Is he holding try-outs?" asked Christine.

"Yeah, this weekend. I've heard people from every year aside from first are trying out. The old captain kept Wilson on for far too long. Far too many people haven't had a chance to try out. I'd've chucked him for a Niffler on a broom if I were the captain."

"Speaking of captains," said Christine, "Did I tell you I'm one now?"

"No, you didn't!" said James, impressed. "You deserve it, of course, but I hadn't expected it. You've got 7th years on your team."

"Well, apparently our head of house didn't think they deserved it as much as I did," said Christine, who seemed to be trying hard to sound modest.

"Don't worry about being modest around me, Christine," said James. "I've been told I had a big head."  
"Evans, huh?" asked Christine.

"Word gets around, eh?" asked James.

"It's a small school. And you're both big personalities. You two dating yet?" asked Christine.

"Not yet. But I've got a better chance now than I ever had," said James.

"Congratulations!" said Christine sincerely. "I'm thinking of asking Mike Bones out." She was referring to the male sixth year prefect.

"You two would make a good couple," said James. "But enough of this sappy talk. Let's talk more Quidditch."

"Absolutely," said Christine. During all this, of course, James and Christine were patrolling the hallways, but finding nothing particularly interesting.

"So who do you figure wins the cup this year?" asked James.

"Depends who your seeker is, honestly," said Christine. "Unless you have a great one, it's us again."

"So not Slytherin?" asked James.

"Absolutely not." said We'll beat them for sure, and you've got a good chance, too. They'll probably beat Hufflepuff, but... wouldn't it be great to see Slytherin go winless this of all years?"

James, however, did not have a chance to answer, because they finally came upon something on their patrol that was not only interesting, but a bit terrifying.

There was a small boy crumpled on the floor, moaning in pain. On the wall above him, on the wall of the hallway, was what James recognized as the Dark Mark.

James cussed in a way that was probably not appropriate in front of a girl.

Christine ran to the boy, and cradled him in her arms.

James knew he had to take control of the situation. "Okay. He needs to get to the hospital wing, but we also need to try to catch whoever did this to him. I want you to take him to the hospital wing. Quickest and easiest way would be on a broom. You know 'accio' right?"

"Of course," said Christine. "That's the bloody dark mark isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Christine shuddered a bit before saying, "Accio Broom!"

James said the same thing, because he would have to get through the hallways quickly too. The fat-lady was annoyed to have to open quickly to let out the broom which then sped to James.

Christine got on her broom and James hoisted the boy, who looked to be about a third year, onto the broom.

"Just take the quickest route you can to get there. If you're going to run into trouble, I'll come help you out," said James.

Christine's eyes narrowed. "How would you know."

"I can't explain. You'll just have to trust me. As your head boy," said James.

"Don't be so dramatic. If anyone tries to hex me, I'll bowl them over with my broom," said Chloe.

"So you're not scared?" asked James.

"You don't have to be a Gryffindor to be brave, James," Christine pointed out.

"Good point. Just be careful, though. I think one or probably to people used the cruciatus curse on this boy," said James.

"Well, if they're such cowards to take two to curse one poor third year, I can take the two of them on my own. Now go catch them, will you? I'll take the boy down to the hospital wing. I'll stay and wait for him to get better. Maybe you should get a message to Dumbledore to get some more prefects out here. We're just only ten minutes into our shift," said Christine.

"Point taken. And we're off," said James, as he and Christine took off in different directions on their brooms.

James had to go slower than he would have liked, so as not to crash into the walls of the narrow corridors. Hogwarts was not necessarily designed for broom travel, even though it could be done. James pulled out the Marauders' Map as soon as he knew Christine couldn't see him.

As he had suspected, Prewett and Flint were on the map, both heading toward the Slytherin common room, though they had split up and were heading there by different paths. James knew that the passwords would have been changed to get in since the beginning of term, so James knew he only had until they got to the Common Room to catch them, and that was his best chance of getting them expelled.

He had to choose one of them to go after. He decided upon Flint, because he had come off in the duels as seeming generally more evil. Plus, he was further away from the common-room.

He pushed the limits of his broom and the narrow hallways, trying desperately to catch him. He saw his little dot getting closer to that of Flint, but not quickly enough. He sped his broom up. He had to make quick, skillful turns to barely avoid hitting walls and corners. If this was a Quidditch pitch he'd have captured Flint by now. After knocking him down with his broom.

Prewett made it to the common room and James cussed, even though he knew he was sacrificing Prewett for the sake of Flint.

But it was becoming less and less likely that he would catch him either. Flint was down the hallway in the dungeon from the common room. James had three more hallways to go. He just barely made the first corner and picked up speed. He _needed _to catch Flint. At the next corner, the side of his broom whipped against the side of the hallway he was entering. It wasn't hard enough to do any damage to the broom, but the force knocked James halfway off his broom. By the time he recovered, and looked at the Marauders' Map, Flint was back in the Slytherin Common Room, just like Prewett had.

"Merlin's Balls!" yelled James, in a voice that was probably loud enough to scare the two couples making out in broom closets nearby that James could see on the Marauder's Map.

A/N: If you enjoyed the chapter, I ask you to please review and to donate rice (by playing freerice dot com for a few minutes or more) in payment for this chapter. If you donate rice for this chapter, please let me know.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Revenge

James knew that he had to tell Dumbledore as soon as possible, so after looking down at the Marauders' Map to confirm that Christine, and the boy, whose name the Marauder's map informed him was Joseph Pellin, had made it to the hospital wing, he was off. He got off his broom and slung it over his shoulder; he didn't want to crash the damn thing again.

He jogged his way to the Headmaster's office, hoping the password was the same as the last time he'd been escorted there. "Cockroach Clusters," said James, and the Gargoyles jumped out of the way, allowing for him to make his way up the stairs.

It was only after he started up the steps that he remembered it was the middle of the night and the Headmaster would probably be asleep. However, he had reason to believe that the Headmaster had a personal bedroom somewhere near his office, and if anything warranted waking the Headmaster up in the middle of the night, it would be the fact that a kid had been tortured in the hallway, and the dark mark was now burned into one of the downstairs hallways.

But by the time James got up to the Office, Dumbledore was waiting patiently for him at his desk.

"One of the portraits in my bedroom woke me up," revealed Dumbledore, asking James' unanswered question. Now where's Christine?"

"In the hospital wing watching over Joseph Pellin," said James.

"The fourth year Hufflepuff," said Dumbledore. "Small for his age. A perfect victim. What happened to him? Actually, wait a moment, I'm going to send a message to another one of the professors to monitor the hallways. I doubt that they'll strike twice in one night, but there's really no need to have our guard cut down on a night where something's already gone wrong."

Dumbledore turned to Fawkes the Phoenix, and, after scribbling a quick note, instructed, "Deliver this to Professor Slughorn."

"Now, please answer my question, if you'll pardon my previous distraction," suggested Dumbledore.

"Of course. I think he was cruciatused. And they left a Dark Mark above his moaning body. They're... They're sick and cruel, sir," shuddered James.

"Yes, they sound as if they must be. And as I'm sure you've been coming to realize, James, many people do seem to be nowadays. Do you know specifically of whom you are talking, and perhaps more importantly, can you prove it?" asked Dumbledore.

James had put away the Marauders' Map before coming into the office, but had noticed before he got there that Prewett and Flint had already made it to their beds.

"Flint and Prewett from Slytherin, but... I'm afraid I can't prove it, sir," said James.

"Well then I can take no official action as a Headmaster in this matter. Of all times, now would be the worst time for me to appear to be prejudiced against Slytherins. There are still quite a few who we can keep out from Voldemort's army. Of course, someday soon we must form our own army, but I think that must wait until the end of this year. Many of you in this year will be the core of the army, if you are so willing," said Dumbledore.

James was very interested to hear about Dumbledore's plans to take on Voldemort in the near future, and nodded fervently that he, at least, would be willing to join an army to fight Voldemort.

But Dumbledore, to James' disappointment, changed topics. "Back to the matter at hand, however" Dumbledore said, "just as I cannot take action as a Headmaster, you cannot take action as Headboy. But I believe there's another group you call yourself a part of. The Marauders, is it?" smiled Dumbledore.

"Er... yes sir," said James, vaguely surprised that Dumbledore so clearly approved of the group which had pulled off at least a hundred pranks in the last six years as Hogwarts.

"Yes, well. I believe that I, as a former Gryffindor, may tell you, as a Marauder, that something must be done about Prewett and Flint. I will leave the particulars up to you, but I would advise that you take at least one of your fellow Marauders along to help you out," said Dumbledore.

"Er... yes sir," said James, surprised that Dumbledore was putting so much faith in him. But then again, he and Sirius were more than equipped to take on two Slytherin jack-asses who had ganged up on a fourth year.

"Was there anything else that I may discuss with you tonight?" asked Dumbledore with a smile.

"Well, if I may ask... Why are we waiting a year before fighting Voldemort?" asked James.

"I never said that we weren't already fighting him. We just don't have a formal army yet. Aurors are already catching death-eaters, I've apprehended a couple on my own. But more will come in the future," said Dumbledore. "Any further questions?"

"Not for tonight, sir? Perhaps I should go back to my shift?" asked James.

"See if Joseph Pellin is well enough for Christine to join you again. If not, find someone else. No need to have you alone tonight," answered Dumbledore.

"Yes sir," said James

Early Friday morning James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius were huddled close together at the Gryffindor Table in the Great Hall.

"So, Remus, we were going to help you out with your furry little problem starting tomorrow night, yeah?" asked James.

"That was the plan," said Remus.

"Well, I was wondering if it might be okay for us to be a little late... say midnight instead of earlier? Sirius and I have some business to attend to after curfew," said James. He had already told the other marauders the story of what had happened during middle shift last night, and had outlined Dumbledore's advice on the matter.

"Sorry that you can't come help us fight, Petey," said Sirius. "Just, it seems like more of a Gryffindor thing to do to have a fair fight."

"It's ok," said Peter, who seemed quite content to be left out of the action.

"All right Sirius," said James, who had just looked over his shoulder to the entrance of the Great Hall, "we'll talk about our plan later. The girls are coming, and they're probably going to sit with us."

"How much of this are they allowed to know about?" asked Remus.

"Well, everyone should know about what happened last night, just only us marauders should know that Sirius and I are going to offer some payback for it. I don't want Lily worried about me," said James, sincerely.

"Oh, how sweet," crooned Sirius, a little less than sincerely.

"Up yours, Padfoot, up yours," said James, with a smile.

And that smile strengthened and became more sincere as he saw how beautiful Lily looked that morning from up close. Her hair looked perfect, with a cute little clip in it, in the shape of a flower. And apparently, if anyone could wear the Hogwarts school uniform and make it look sexy, it was Lily Evans. But the best thing about her that morning was her smile. And James realized, with a skip of the heart, that the smile was for him.

"Hi, Lily," said James, with what had matured into a wide grin dominating his face.

"Hey James," said Lily. "Two points for that bright smile so early in the morning."

"Fantastic. Makes 12, no?" asked James.

"Indeed," confirmed Lily. All the girls had sat down.

"Well," said James, his face turning serious, much to Lily's disappointment, "as much as I love your smile, I've got some news that is probably going to wipe the smile off your face."

He told the three girls the story about what happened last night, right up until the point where he entered Dumbledore's office.

"So, Dumbledore will take care of it?" asked Chloe, hopefully.

"It will be taken care of," said James.

"But by Dumbledore, obviously?" asked Lily.

James face showed clear signs of discomfort as he began to stammer a reply.

"You know what?" Lily broke in, "let's talk about something happy. You said the problem will be solved, and I believe you. If Dumbledore doesn't want to tell me how, that's his business. And word has probably already spread through half the school about this by now, and will hit the other half by lunch time. If students are going to wander around past midnight, I'm sure they'll do it in pairs now. So let's talk about something else. What sujbect is everyone looking forward to the most today?"

"Transfiguration," said Remus.

"Same," said James.

"Care of Magical Creatures," said Sirius.

"Ooooh, me too!" said Marietta. "Hippogriffs today, right? I hope we get to ride them!"

"Ancient Runes," said Chloe. "Yes, I know I'm a nerd."

"You're not a nerd!" said Remus.

"Well... thanks Remus. But I am," said Chloe.

"A cool nerd, maybe," said Remus.

"Yeah, just like you," said Chloe with a cheeky grin.

"Errr..." said Peter. "Transfiguration, I suppose. I'm rubbish at it, but at least it's right before lunch. And McGonagall helps when I'm having a problem."

"Well, I'm looking forward to Astronomy," said Lily.

"Astrononomy?" asked James, shocked. "Making us troop up there to the astronomy tower at midnight on a _Friday_? Makes it seem like the weekend will never begin!"

"And it makes things especially hard for those of us who are trying out for the Quidditch team at 9 in the morning," said Marietta.

"I forgot you'd signed up for try-outs," said Sirius, who looked her body up and down. "You're the perfect build for it. Short, skinny, compact. You good on a broom?"

"Wouldn't be trying out if I weren't. But I would just like to point out that women are not objects!" said Marietta jokingly. "The way you inspected my body and listed off my most attractive features..."

"First of all," said Sirius, "those were not your most attractive features. I could tell you what they are sometime if you like. and as for 'inspecting your body,' I'd have done the same to a guy, too. It's what being a Quidditch captain does to a guy," Sirius explained.

"What, makes him gay?" asked Marietta.

Sirius barked out some laughter. "Oh, I'm not gay Marietta. In fact, maybe someday you'll get to find that out for yourself."

Marietta blushed, but was still smiling.

"Okay you two," said Lily. "It's too early in the morning to start a relationship. Marietta, I know that you need at least two more cups of tea before you're properly awake. Plus, I didn't get to tell anyone why I like astronomy."

"Why?" asked James politely.

"Because stars are beautiful and I never really take the time to look at them if it's not for a class. Does that mean I don't appreciate beauty?" she asked.

"I don't see how anybody as beautiful as you could not appreciate beauty," said James.

"Wow, James," said Lily. "Two points. You're on a roll this morning! Calling me beautiful and making me feel less insecure about myself in one go. By the way, just to put this out there, there's some other things that I'd like to do in the Astronomy tower someday, aside from just look at stars."

The innuendo was, of course, not lost on James, who nearly choked on his hash-browns. Lily had just told him a place where they might make out someday.

As the Marauders were walking from Transfiguration to lunch, James pulled Sirius aside into an empty classroom to have a quick conversation, sending Remus and Peter ahead to make some excuse to the girls about why they were late.

"So what's the plan, Prongs?" asked Sirius

"Depends on a couple things," said James. "First of all, you don't want the rest of us on the team to come to the Seeker try-outs, do you?"

"No, you don't really need the rest of the team there to search for a seeker. If it was any other position, the answer would be yes," said Sirius.

"Fair enough," said James. "And just by the way, no putting Marietta on the team just because you want in her pants,"

"Hey!" said Sirius, who seemed almost offended. "I wouldn't do that to Marietta or the Gryffindor team, I like them both too much. And I don't just want in her pants, I actually might have feelings for her."

"Interesting," said James, who had always considered his best friend more of a snog 'em and walk away type of man. "But back to the conversation at hand. What we need is to find Prewett and Flint alone in a hallway tomorrow night."

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Sirius.

"One step ahead of you there, Padfoot, my dear mate," said James. "It turns out that Christine Wood-"

"That damn Ravenclaw Seeker?" broke in Sirius.

"And a prefect, and a pretty brave one at that. We were on shift together last night" said James. Sirius nodded his understanding, and James continued. "Turns out she's not too pleased about what happened last night, either. And she says she can get her little brother, a third year, to write a letter to a fake girl in Hufflepuff asking her to meet him in a broom closet. Nothing should lure those creeps out of their Slytherin dungeon faster than the chance to torture a third year at a pre-arranged time and place. Now all we need is a dumb-looking school owl who we can have deliver the message 'accidentally' to Prewett and Flint tomorrow morning instead of this fake Hufflepuff girl. They won't know she's fake of course, 'cause what sort of Slytherin 7th year is going to waste time remembering the names of Hufflepuff third years?"

"Sounds like it should work. We'll make the time, like 11 so we can make it to the Shrieking Shack without too much wasted time?" asked Sirius.

"I'd been thinking earlier, but, you're right, the halls will be more deserted at 11. Better time," said James.

"Who's patrolling tomorrow night?" asked Sirius.

"McGonagall, who I imagine Dumbledore has instructed, unofficially, to stay out of our way. Filch, whose memory we could probably erase if we had to, and two Hufflepuff 6th years. If we run into them, we'll tell them what they're doing. They'll have to approve. The victim was a Hufflepuff."

"Well tomorrow is the best night to do it, then. I can't help much with sending the owl or all that, 'cause I have to go down to the Quidditch pitch early tomorrow and get stuff ready," said Sirius.

"No problem. I just need you there to show off your fantastic dueling skills at eleven o' clock. We'll walk to the hallway together... leave Gryffindor Tower at 10:45 under the invisibility cloak?"

"Sounds great," said Sirius, and they left the classroom and began walking to lunch.

The first stages of the plan went off without a hitch. James found a good owl at about 7 AM. Christine brought her brother's note, at 7:15, and they gave the owl instructions on what to do.

"I wish I could duel them with you guys," said Christine jealously.

"Unfortunately, your time to duel will come. I want this to be a Marauder thing," said James.

"Don't you Marauders just do pranks?" asked Christine.

"Oh, by the time we're done with Prewett and Flint, they're going to feel as if they've been pretty well pranked," said James.

"Well, thanks for letting me help, I suppose, but I am ready to actually fight some death-eaters, and this is the closest we've got at Hogwarts so far," said Christine.

"You're not ready to fight death-eaters yet. And neither am I. At least according to Dumbledore. But I think he's onto something. I mean, come on, you're what 15?"

"Just turned 16!" said Christine a bit indignantly.

"Well congratulations. But Dumbledore's only looking for people who are out of school. I understand that you want to fight, and unfortunately I think that by the time you're out of school, you'll still have your chance. For now, just focus on Quidditch like the best Seeker at Hogwarts is supposed to," said James.

Christine smiled. "You're a good friend, you know."

"I do my best," said James.

"I look forward to the next time we patrol together," she said.

"Yeah, maybe we'll get into a duel, said James with a smile, which Christine returned.

An hour later, at breakfast, James saw the sinister smiles which crept over Prewett and Flint's faces when they read the note. The game was afoot.

"So who made Seeker? Sirius asked James after they had snuck out of the portrait hole under the invisbility cloak. Once they were a few yards away from the portrait hole, they took off the cloak, since the Marauder's Map would tell them if they needed to take cover under it.

"Marietta," said Sirius with a wide smile. But I swear, it was totally legitimate. Once I weeded out all the bloody prats who could hardly handle a broomstick, we were down to 8 candidates. I randomly set all 8 up in matches of 2, to see who could find the snitch first, after it had a two minute head start. Marietta found hers the fastest out of anyone. Then we had the semi-finals, during which Marietta looked even more impressive. In the finals, she beat out this third year chap, who I must admit will probably be our seeker once Marietta leaves at the end of this year, by making the most spectacular and daring dive I've ever seen a seeker make, from 100 feet in the air to 2 feet above the ground in something like two seconds. Then, just to be extra sure I'd made the right decision, I had her play everyone who had lost too early to play her. She beat them so easy it was almost funny."

"How'd she get to be so good?" asked James, curious.

"Her father was a seeker. Keeps a snitch around the house, let her play with it in the yard. She says it was one of her favorite things to do during her summers," summarized Sirius.

"Right. Well, I can't wait to see her in practice, then," said James.

"Yeah, now, Prongs, don't we have more important things to talk about than Quidditch? By the way, Prewett and Flint are on the move," said Sirius.

"Well, I want Flint. Have a little unresolved business with him, if you'll recall," said James.

"You mean the whole thing where he tried to cruciatus you?" asked Sirius.

"Precisely," said James. "Now, no matter what happens, focus on your guy first. Disable your man before helping me. If I need help."

James knew he was being cryptic but was rather hoping Sirius would be too caught up in the idea of being about to duel some future (or present... James wasn't quite clear about how old Voldemort required them to be) death-eaters that he wouldn't notice.

No such luck. "Are you about to do something stupid, James?" asked Sirius, concern in his voice.

"Er... Not too stupid," said James.

"Like, normal Marauder-stupid, or land you in St. Mungo's stupid?" asked Sirius.

"Much more like the Marauder style No St. Mungo's, but I wouldn't rule out the hospital wing here at Hogwarts," said James.

"Well, it's one of the Marauders' prime duties to keep Madam Pomfrey company. Gets lonely down there in the hospital wing, I'm sure," said Sirius with a slight grin. "So why won't you tell me the stupid thing you're going to do?"

"'Cause you'd try and stop me," said James.

"Now see, if I know _that_, what's stopping me from trying to stop you without knowing what it is?" asked Sirius, trying to beat James in a logical argument.

"Because," said James, smiling because he knew he had checkmate in this particular logical argument, "we're close enough now that they can almost hear us."

Sirius looked at the Marauder's Map, whispered, "Shit," and put the map away. He drew his wand, as James drew his own.

They knew where their enemies were standing. About 20 feet in front of the broom closet that Christine's brother had claimed to want to go snog his imaginary Hufflepuff girlfriend in.

James remembered something and motioned for Sirius to stop. James whispered into his ear, "First spell we cast on each of them, before they know what's going on, is 'principium.' I want to be able to talk to the bastards before we duel them."

Sirius nodded in agreement. He seemed to be willing to let James take the lead on this Marauders' mission. That wasn't always the case, but James was grateful he was letting him have control of this one. It had been commissioned to him personally by Dumbledore, after all.

Before they turned the last corner before the hallway where the boys were, James and Sirius held their wands at the ready, knowing that Prewett and Flint would not be, as they were expecting 1 third year, in 5 minutes. They wouldn't be expecting the Hufflepuff girl to show up because they had "intercepted" the letter intended to bring her here.

With one motion, James and Sirius jumped out into the hallway, each quickly yelling "principium" at their respective targets before they even had a chance to raise their wands.

"Now remember," said James, "you can't cast a spell until we do. I would like to make clear first of all, that I am not out here tonight as Headboy, so I can't notify anyone of anything you do tonight. I'm a Marauder, so I am a hooligan here tonight, too. Just not the type of hooligan who would cast the cruciatus curse, in a two on one fight, on a fourth year."

Prewett shook his head as if he were trying to deny his involvement. But James noticed that Flint, the evil bastard, looked proud of himself.

"I should also admit," said James, "that Wood from Ravenclaw will not be showing up. That was a plan to lure you here, to show you what it's like to fight in a fair duel. We will now, to make things perfectly fair, will be to lift our principium spells by casting a useless spell. How's 'lumos' grab you, Padfoot?"

"Fine by me. Then these two will have more light to see us kick their asses." said Sirius.

After a count to three by Sirius, both James and Sirius, said "lumos", and predictably, the Slytherins had spells ready.

Sirius got off a "Jelly legs" curse at the same time that Prewett got off an expelliarmus. Sirius kept hold of the wand, though, whether because he had a tight grip or because Prewett was too surprised by the turn of events that had just occurred that he was unable to practice magic properly.

James did not cast a spell at Flint, allowing him to cast the first spell, but only because he knew for sure what it would be. "Cruciatus," pronounced Flint.

James, although he probably could have dodged, allowed the spell to hit him. This was the stupid idea that he had not wanted to tell Sirius about. He was lucky, though, because Flint was not, apparently, very could at casting the curse yet. Sure, James crumpled to the ground and felt like a pair of Bludgers had hit him in the stomach, and the wind was knocked out of him, but he knew that the effects were supposed to be much, much worse. It must have taken both Prewett and Flint casting the spell simultaneously to put the third year in the hospital wing. Or else it had taken way more time for Flint to do it than James was willing to give him.

James was unable to talk, because of the air having left him, but he was vaguely adept at non-verbal magic. He gathered enough strength to point his wand at Flint, and he thought "Expelliarmus" with all his might. His first indication that it worked was that the pain stopped.

James stood up, yelled, "accio wand!" and calmly accepted the wand into his hand at the same time that Sirius acquired that from Prewett.

"You're right, that was stupid," said Sirius.

"It turned out all right. He needs tons of practice," said James. "I just needed to know how it feels. I needed to know if I could handle it. When I fight real death eaters, they'll use it."

"Well, all's well that ends well," said Sirius. Both Marauders still had their wands pointed at their enemies in case the tried to resort to mugle fighting and make a run at them.

"Petrificus Totalus," said James, and Sirius followed suit.

"I don't know if you were in too much pain to tell or not, but that little bugger tried to Cruciatus me, too, said Sirius, pointing at Prewett. "But me, I dodged it and then took his wand."

" Still, intent would be enough to get him expelled from school," said James. "If only I were here on official Headboy business. For now, I just think we ought to break their wands and leave them here 'til morning."

"Right. And if they tell any professors who broke their wands, that will establish us as witnesses on scene. Witnesses who could testify, under veritaserum, that both of them tried to use Cruciatus curse tonight. Well. One tried and one succeeded, but only because you're a masochist, James," said Sirius.

So they snapped Prewett and Flint's wands and walked away, arguing over whether it was masochism or healthy curiousity that made James want to know what the Cruciatus curse felt like.

A/N: All people to donate rice from freerice dot com for this chapter get honorable mention in opening author's note of next chapter. But of course don't lie. Just tell me how much you honestly gave. If you didn't give any, you can get honorable mention for telling me why not. Thanks for reading and please review.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Thanks to . who donated rice to the last chapter.

Chapter 8

Marauders Marauding

"So does that even count as a prank?" asked Sirius. "I mean, no one was laughing."

"They will be when word spreads about what happened," said James.

"But you told them if they told any teachers it would make us credible witnesses," said Sirius.

"Which is true. But they're still going to tell their Slytherin friends what happened, then some Hufflepuff will hear, then the whole school will know. Plus, Christine knows everything that happened, or at least will once she hears that the two kids were found paralyzed with their broken wands on their chest. And she's a chatter. Students knowing and teachers knowing are two entirely different things. The teachers know better than to dignify student rumors, even though this will be one of the times that the rumor is true," said James.

"True enough. So it's a Marauders' prank with a delayed reaction," said Sirius, seemingly satisfied.

"Precisely," said James. "Now, you ready to pick up Wormtail so we can go hang out with a werewolf?"

"Absolutely!" said Sirius, obviously earnestly excited.

In about half an hour, the three teenage boys had transformed and were making their way across the grounds as a stag, a huge black dog, and a small rat. Peter opened the door by hitting the knot underneath it.

Sirius slipped easily in behind him, but James needed to lower his head and make his stag frame small to make it through the tunnel, bending his knees low to the ground. I would have been much more convenient to crawl through as a human, but it would be no good to encounter Remus in his wolf form while he was still in the form of a human.

Still, the stag that James had become did not like being cooped up in this tunnel. It was meant to run free, stand tall, get into fights, and it knew it. The part of James that was still separate from the beast coaxed it, trying to comfort it with the fact that it would only be less than twenty minutes before they were running around Hogsmeade, or the grounds of Hogwarts, or somewhere else that it could be wild and free.

When they got to the entrance to the Shrieking Shack, Sirius went in first. The big black dog was the werewolf's favorite of the bunch, and the one it liked to see first. Neither James nor the stag let its feelings be hurt by that fact. It was only natural that the werewolf would want to be greeted first by something so close to its own kind.

The two animals sniffed at each other, and each clearly recognized the other's scent. Sirius began to bark and nip at the werewolf. The werewolf did the same. It would not matter, James knew, that Sirius had been bitten by a werewolf, werewolf bites were only problematic for humans. In his animagus form, Sirius was safe. James strutted into the room next, glad to be out of the confined space, and Peter scurried across the floor and into a crack in the wall that allowed him out of the room and outside of the shack. It was his job to transform into human form and open the door to let them all outside. James and Sirius would have to control and the werewolf as Peter turned back to his normal form.

James and Sirius both knew that this was the scariest part for Peter. But he knew that the dog and the stag were strong enough to keep the werewolf at bay. And tonight, like always, Sirius and James kept their promise to keep Peter safe. Peter transformed back into his animagus form, and the four were ready to begin their wild marauding through the night.

Sometimes, they had plans before hand, of where to go, what to do, what they wanted to see. Tonight they had had no such plans, but James and the stag with whom he was sharing a body decided that where they wanted to go was the Forbidden Forest, so Prongs began to lead the way up to the castle grounds.

He was followed by the dog and the wolf, still covertly nipping at each other's heals whenever they got the chance. The rat scurried fast to try to keep up, and was almost left behind, if it weren't for the fact that Padfoot scooped Wormtail up in his mouth and tossed him toward Prongs. Padfoot and Prongs had done this trick many times before, so Prongs knew just how to pause and stand so that Wormtail would be able to regain his balance on his back. Once that was done, the rat managed to climb up to the stag's head, where it nestled safely between the stag's antlers. It was Wormtail's favorite place to be.

Now that all three of the larger animals could lope along without being concerned about losing their smaller companion, they made it up to the border of the school grounds very quickly. They knew there was one part of the Forbidden Forest where animals could come and go unregulated by the security of the castle. It was, primarily, a demand of the centaurs that had made this particular lapse of security exist, as they refused to be caged on a reserve, they wanted to know that they could leave and seek other forests any time they wanted.

Moony was the only werewolf ever to breach the system, given that all other werewolfs would be much more attracted by the smell of human blood down in Hogsmeade than the wild-life smells wafting out from the forbidden forest. The only humans nearby were protected behind pure stone, something that werewolves were able to sense with their smell, and something that would not give them much hope of reaching their human prey.

So they went to this secret part of the Forbidden Forest, one that they had not even bothered to put on the Marauders' Map because they knew it would be useless to any future prankster who wasn't best friends with a werewolf, and also because they always had the hardest time remembering where it was once morning came... They often wondered if perhaps this was an extra enchantment put on the entrance. Perhaps it could only truly be found by animals.

At any rate, they ran through the forest. First, they encountered a pair of roaming hippogriffs, who took flight at the site of this strange group of creatures which they had never seen before. They spooked a number of unicorns, who ran away in a group of seven. Unicorns were not confident to know that the group of seven of them could have given a good fight against the three strong animals among the oddly marauding pack.

None of the Marauders cared that they were not encountering any highly interesting creatures. Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs were simply happy running around the grounds, and Wormtail was content being in between the stag's natural defense mechanism, surrounded in every way by his three stronger friends.

But then, they did encounter a more interesting creature... a pack of seven scuttling spiders each the size of a small dog were scurrying toward them. It was Padfoot who decided to stand his ground and growl. Neither Sirius nor the big black dog were of the character to be scared by a bunch of overgrown insects. There was a tense moment where the spiders seemed to be considering seeing if they could take on the motley crew. However, the wolf came to back the dog up, and James knew that it must have been some part of Remus himself that decided to help his friend, even though the Padfoot and the werewolf were always on good terms.

James saw very little need to fight the spiders,and would just as easily have turned and walked away from the spiders had Padfoot not stood his ground. The stag had no desire to fight anything that wasn't a fellow stag, and then only if it were questioning its dominance. Still, James knew he needed to help protect his friends. So he made a move as if to charge the spiders. That's when they began to scurry away. Padfoot made to chase after them, but Padfoot stood in front of him, letting them get away.

The marauders had a good time making their way through the forest. The only close call they had was when they nearly ran into some centaurs, but Padfoot smelled them before they got too close. They had gotten shot at by centaurs before. It was a near miss.

The next morning, Sunday morning, James was the only one to stayup for breakfast, hoping that he would see Lily. He knew she never skipped breakfast, it was her favorite meal of the day. Peter and Sirius went to bed, whereas Lupin, of course, was in the Shrieking Shack.

When James got down to the Great Hall, he was grateful to see Lily sitting alone.

"So where are Marietta and Chloe, then?" asked James as he sat down.

"Errr, well, both sleeping for different reasons," said Lily, after she greeted James with a warm smile.

"Why's that?" asked James.

"Well, Marietta stayed up drinking from a stash of fire-whiskey she keeps in her trunk, celebrating her making seeker by getting all the girls on the Quidditch team drunk," said Lily.

"Yikes," said James. "Lucky no girl on the team is below 6th year. Didn't drink much, I hope?" asked James. He knew all the girls on the Quidditch team and rather looked out for them. Thought of them almost as sisters.

"Just a couple of drinks apiece, except for Marietta. But she can take care of herself, trust me. She just needs to sleep it off. Wouldn't do it on a school night," said Lily.

"Fair enough. What about our good friend Chloe?" asked James.

"She, er... found this interesting book on some odd magical traditions from Scandinavia... Stayed up half the night reading it," said Lily, laughing as if she were embarrassed for her friend.

" Sounds like something Remus would do," said James.

"We'll talk about Remus later," said Lily, in a way that sounded slightly ominous to James. "We have more important things to talk about."

"Er, well... what do you have to say?" asked James.

"Prefects on second shift last night found Flint and Prewett paralyzed on the ground with their wands snapped," said Lily.

James' face contorted in surprise, "Right, we forgot that prefects would find them first!"

"So I assume it was Flint and Prewett who cursed poor Joseph Pellin the other night?" asked Lily.

"Yeah. Well, then, you gave them what they deserved. You and Sirius I assume," suggested Lily.

"You're not going to tell on us, are you?" asked James, somewhat jokingly.

"Of course not, James. I approve of what you two did, and I assume Dumbledore would, too. If he didn't suggest it. But you got done what you needed to get done, and I assume it required bravery, or cleverness, or possibly both. So 6 points. I hope the prats take the message and get the hell out of our school," said Lily.

"Ooooh, up to 20 already. I should curse Slytherins in hallways more often," James paused. "I'm joking of course. Only if they deserve it, like Flint and Prewett did. But I don't know if they'll leave the school. Word should spread that seventh years can't pick on fourth years in the hallway, though, if nothing else," said James.

"Good. Now tell me why you look like you're going to fall asleep in your eggs over-easy," demanded Lily.

"I, er... I can't really tell you about that right now," said James, feeling there was no point in denying the fact that he hadn't slept all night. Lily would have to be blind not to see it.

"Okay, well. Two points for being all mysterious and interesting and making me curious," said Lily. "So, yes, that's 22. But just keep in mind that it will earn you a lot more points when you trust me enough to tell me your secrets."

"Merlin, Lily, you sound like you're on some Muggle soap-opera. Which you probably watch! All right, mystery solved!" shouted James, loudly enough that people seats away turned around and looked at him.

Lily giggled slightly, beautifully, charmingly. But then, once her face got serious, her line of questioning did, too. "Does it have anything to do with Remus being a werewolf?"

James' mouth dropped wide open. _Shit_, he thought. The way to get out of having to answer that question honestly would have been to do just about anything but let his mouth drop open.

James still tried to recover and play it cool, which Lily thought was hilarious, but she felt that now was not the proper time to laugh at him. She had apparently dropped quite the bombshell on him.

"Why would you think Remus is a werewolf?" asked James, trying to act casual.

"He gets sick once a month at the full moon," said Lily, feeling ashamed to be using the same logic that Snape had used almost two years ago, when they were still friends although drifting apart.

"That doesn't necessarily mean he's a werewolf. Plus, sometimes it's his grandmother who's sick. Or his father," James pointed out.

"You're covering. Plus, Snape knows," said Lily.

"That bastard!" said James. "He _told _you he knew?"

Lily was almost scared of how angry James had gotten.

"Dumbledore directly forbade him to say anything," fumed James.

"He never actually said the word," said Lily, apologetically, although she couldn't figure out what she was apologizing for.

"You swear you'll never tell anyone?" asked James.

"Haven't told anyone in a year and a half," said Lily. "Why would I start now? I was friends with Remus before I was friends with you. Plus, it isn't anybody's business if he's a werewolf."

"What about your friends? Marietta and Chloe. Do they know?" asked James.

"Marietta definitely doesn't. Not observant enough. Chloe might, 'cause she's smart. But I didn't tell her, and never will," said Lily.

"Well, I've got no choice but to trust you," said James.

"Does that mean you'll tell me why you're so tired this morning?" asked Lily, almost playfully, knowing the answer would not have changed in the last several minutes.

"Sorry, Lily, but that requires a completely different level of trust. Like, I would literally have to trust you with my life. I mean... What I'd tell you couldn't necessarily kill me, but..."

"James, you don't have to tell me. I understand. We've been friends for two weeks. That's not enough time. It took two years before Marietta told me that she still had a bed-wetting problem... In second year. She's over it now, or I wouldn't be telling you. Took Chloe one year before she told me she thought she was a squib up until she received her Hogwarts letter. But I just want you to know that I have never betrayed a friend. The only friendship of mine that has ever really ended has been with Snape. The bastard, the coward, the man who hangs out with death-eaters. The man who called me a mud-blood. Technically, I'm the one who ended the friendship, because he wanted to come back to me. But even with him, I've got secrets that I wouldn't tell. Nothing dangerous, just stuff that would embarrass the hell out of him in front of his cronies. But had he not turned out to be a future death-eater, I'd have kept even dangerous secrets for him."

"Lily," James asked tentatively. "Could I give you a hug?"

Lily's eyes opened wide in surprise. Very rarely had she been asked for a hug from a guy, at least one who wasn't trying to snog her. She'd probably let Potter snog her now, if she wanted to, but it didn't seem that he had snogging on his mind at the moment.

"Of course!" said Lily, who got out of her seat, crawled under the table, and popped up next to James, who pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thanks for being my friend, Lily," said James.

"Of course, James," said Lily. "And.. three points for being so damn cute."

"A round 25. I wonder if that earns me some credit so that I could ask you a favor," said James.

Lily sat down next to James rather than zipping back under the table.

"I'd do a favor for any of my closest friends," said Lily.

"Well, I've got to go to bed in a little bit. But I'm not going to get any sleep tonight or Monday night either. But I want to be in class. It'd look bad if I wasn't, as a head-boy."

"It sure would," said Lily. "And we couldn't have you bringing shame to the Gryffindor House like that. What do you need from me, my friend?"

"Well... Are there any potions you could brew before tomorrow that could keep me awake Monday and Tuesday without any sleep?"

"Pepper-up potion and wakefulness draught in combination would probably do you just fine. Keep you up for a couple days straight if that's what you need. I wouldn't recommend doing this too often, though. Even wizards need their sleep. And you still might get depressed and moody, in which case a mild cheering charm could keep you feeling normal. You'd better let me be the one to administer the cheering charms, though. Most people can only master a charm that makes you euphoric for a short period of time. You'd want one that made you just normal happy for longer, and I can do that for you. Not that I'm bragging or anything," said Lily, seeming to have caught herself.

"Lily, you can brag to me any time you want. And I really appreciate your help. You sure you're going to be able to brew me stuff by tomorrow? You don't have better stuff to do?" asked James.

"No, they're both fun potions to brew, and I don't have too much homework to do before tomorrow, and I can always do that while the potions are simmering. Slughorn would let me into his office any time I wanted," said Lily.

"Well Merlin bless him," said James.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Please drop me a review to let me know how the story is going. And if you can be so persuaded, please donate rice from freerice dot com (and let me know how much you earned for my story).. Anyone who donates, or leaves a review (like an actual review) which includes their reason for not donating, gets a shout out in next chapter's beginning author's note.


	9. Chapter 9

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Chapter 9

The Marauders' Map

Lily's amazing potions and charms abilities proved able to get James through the the next two days. And then, when near mid-October, when Moony's monthly habit struck again, this time starting on a Tuesday night, Lily offered her services again, this time in advance. She had the potions ready for him when he was the only one of the Marauders to show up for breakfast Wednesday morning, as Sirius and Wormtail both tended to skip at least half their classes on the day after one of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs' midnight expeditions.

A good bit had changed since the last full-moon, James reflected, as he gazed happily at the face of Lily sitting across from him at the table. One thing was that Marietta and Chloe had taken to letting James and Lily sit alone at breakfast, though the whole group, Marauders, Lily, Chloe and Marietta, tended to eat lunch and dinner all together. At breakfast however, Chloe and Marietta usually sat with Peter, Sirius, and Remus at breakfasts, except for mornings like this when they skipped and the two girls were content to eat alone. James didn't know whose idea it was to give Lily and he one meal a day together, but he was grateful for it.

Another difference was that the hallways had become significantly safer, thanks to James and Sirius. According to the unofficial Hogwarts-gossip version of what had happened, both boys had written their parents the day after requesting them to send them replacement wands from Diagon Alley. Flint's parents had done so by so soon that he hardly fell behind in any of his classes.

Prewett, however, received a Howler from his parents (this part is not gossip, as the whole school heard it for themselves over breakfast one morning), exclaiming that whatever had happened to him was clearly his own fault. His cousins (of which he had quite a few, most of whom were in various years in Gryffindor, one even playing on the Quidditch team as a Chaser), according to the Howler, had all told Prewett's parents what sort of lot he had fallen into with in Slytherin. They suggested that he should drop out of school so he could come home and learn some proper morals before he learned any more magic. The next day, returning now to the realm of gossip, he did indeed drop out of school, but supposedly went to live with Mulciber, a former Slytherin who had graduated the year before and become a Death Eater.

Without his best friend around, Flint had gone back to staying in his room nights, likely in part because he was afraid of the Marauders, and in part because he had discovered that he couldn't do a proper Cruciatus curse on his own in any event.

"What are you thinking about, James," asked Lily, between bites of scrambled egg. "Potions working for you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm lucid and all, thanks to you. Just been thinking about how much has changed over the past month."

"Well... For one thing, you're up to 70 points now," said Lily.

"It'd be higher if you hadn't started getting stingy," said James.

"I'm not stingy. It just takes more to impress me now. You know, now that I know you're not a complete prat," she smiled cheekily at James.

"Right. Well. I'm a pretty impressive chap, after all. I'll win your heart by December, just you wait," said James.

"Oooh," said Lily. "There's the cocky prat I've known all these years. Shame I can't subtract points."

James thought back to the first time Lily had tried to subtract points, when James had turned her hair fluorescent pink one day at lunch and all of the Gryffindor table had laughed at her. Lily got embarrassed, even though she knew it was all just friendly laughter. All of Gryffindor loved their head-girl, after all. She tried to take three points away from James, after he had changed the color back to normal, but Marietta declared it to be against the rules. The assembled friends of both James and Lily agreed.

"I'm not a cocky prat. Just a confident prat," said James.

"Fair enough. Walk me to potions?" asked Lily.

"Can I hold your hand?" asked James.

"What a third year way to show affection!" exclaimed Lily.

"Still, can I?" asked James, grinning.

"It's not going to earn you any points," said Lily.

"Doesn't need to. I just want to hold your hand," said James.

Lily smiled. "All right then, Potter, you've got yourself a deal."

James blinked at the use of the name "Potter".

"Right," explained Lily. "You're also 'Potter' when we're making business arrangements. You walk with me to class for the right to hold my hand"

"Ah, said James. "Well, are there any other parts of your body that I can arrange to hold through similar 'business arrangements," James joked, with a wide grin to make sure that Lily knew he was joking.

"I've considered it," pointed out Lily, thinking back to that summer when she wished she'd 'prostituted' herself out to Potter for an owl.

James' jaw dropped and Lily giggled. "Not really, you dirty-minded prat. Besides. You know you'd rather have me as a girlfriend than grab any part of me through a 'business arrangement."

"Right you are, beautiful Lily, right you are," said James.

It was on Saturday night of that week, which Lupin spent in the Hospital Wing, recovering from his transformation into a werewolf, which always took a horrible toll on a man's body, that James noticed that Flint had apparently found a new friend to roam the hallways at night. The reason he was watching the map was that Lily was on patrol, and he wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to her. Flint's new friend was Marcus Vice, the same guy who had beat him in the first round of the dueling tournament in the first week of school, after getting boils and bruises.

James decided not to wake Sirius up. He could take care of a problem this simple by himself, even if perhaps not in the bravest way possible. But for the bravest way possible, he'd have to wake up Sirius, who was getting his first proper night's sleep since early that week. So he'd settle for the easy way out.

He grabbed his invisibility cloak, and brought the Marauder's Map with him. This was the best way to do things, because it meant Lily wouldn't have to look bad not taking points away from Gryffindor because of Sirius and James if they happened to have to pass each other. Besides, James did not feel too bad using the element of surprise against Flint, given that he had already tried to use the Cruciatus curse on James. And that was the sort of thing that James tended to hold somewhat of a grudge over.

He raced through the corridors as fast as he could with the cloak wrapped tightly around him, and he used all the secret-passages he knew about to make sure that he would get to the Slytherins before Lily and her Hufflepuff partner on the watch. He figured Lily and the other prefect could probably take them if necessary, but why risk it?

As he entered the corridor, he slowed down, and tiptoed on the floor so that the only noise he could hear, aside from his pounding heart, was the whispering of the two Slytherin boys.

"I heard two embarrassed Ravenclaw 3rd years making plans to meet in the hallway this afternoon. Apparently it's been long enough since the last attack that they've forgotten," said Vice.

"Yeah, and aren't they supposed to be the clever house?" asked Flint with a cruel chuckle.

James rolled his eyes. He looked at the map to make sure that Lily was far away enought that he had time to do what he wanted to do. Indeed he did.

He took off his cloak, which didn't matter since he was behind his prey anyway. "Petrificus Totalus," he said, almost bored, his wand pointed at Flint.

"Now you," he said, as Vice turned around, shocked and with his wand pointed in the wrong direction, "I challenge you to a duel!"

James dodged Vice's first spell, a mishandled petrificus totalus.

James yelled expelliarmus, and flicked his wrist in such a way that the wand scuttled across the floor in his direction. He bent down and picked it up.

James tucked the extra wand in his pocket and very carefully gave Vice three shallow cuts across his torso. Not enough to cause any danger to him, but enough to hurt pretty bad. Then he used the petrificus totalus.

"Now let me explain a couple things to you, my dear Marcus," said James, in the tone of a patient school teacher. "First of all, what I just did to you was not dark magic. It is a spell that is usually used to cut small vegetables into pieces. I am aware that you are in pain, and I regret that you put yourself in a situation like this. But remember, this is _nothing _compared to the way you wanted to hurt those two little Ravenclaws. There's a war coming, and I want you to think very hard about what side you want to be on. Now I'm going to stop your bleeding and heal your wounds, because I'm a nice guy. Most people who aren't future death eaters are."

James fulfilled his promise, so that Marcus was no longer in pain. He had thought long and hard about whether what he was about to do to Marcus amounted to torture, but he decided that it was so short, and so mild, it didn't. He still didn't want Lily to see his bloody cloak before he had a chance to explain his reasoning himself, so he levitated the two paralyzed Slytherins to a closet down in the dungeons where they wouldn't be found until morning.

"So, Lily, I've got a serious question for you," said James, the next morning, partway through breakfast. All the other Marauders, including Remus, who was now out of the hospital wing, were sleeping in in the dorms.

"Go ahead," said Lily, in a soothing voice. She could tell that James was nervous about asking the question. She rather hoped he would ask her out. The point system said nothing about the two being unable to go out on dates before they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Do you think that there's any circumstances when it's ok to hurt someone?" asked James.

Lily paused, jarred by how wrong she had been about what the conversation was about. "What, you mean, like, physically?" asked Lily. "I, er... I suppose if you're in a battle or something, it's got to be, right?"

"Let me give you a concrete example," said James, who still sounded hesitant. And he proceeded to tell her the story of what had gone on the night before, leaving out only the Marauders' Map, and the cloak.

"Well, yeah, I guess I can see your point," said Lily, who was awfully hesitant to say so. "But it sounds so much like 'the ends justify the means.' It's something a death-eater would say," said Lily quietly, almost shyly. "I'm not saying you're like a death-eater, I just wonder if maybe you made a mistake."

James nodded. "Yeah, I wonder, too. But remember, I healed him, and I didn't have to... could have left him scratched up and hurting all night. But I didn't. And I'd have never given him the Cruciatus curse."

"Well, how about this," said Lily. "If he's reformed, and never hangs out with another death-eater again, then we'll know you were right. If he doesn't become reformed, then you should only use necessary force in battle."

"Sounds fair," said James. "Thanks for not judging me about this."

"Look, you're my friend. One of my three best friends now. You can tell me anything. I just really appreciate you taking my thoughts into account," said Lily. "I used to have a best friend who wouldn't take my thoughts into account." They both knew she was talking about Snape.

"There's a couple things about your story I don't understand, though. How did you sneak up on them without them seeing you? And how did you know where they were in the first place?" asked Lily.

"I can't tell-" James was cut off by the look of disappointment on Lily's face. He was sure he could tell what she was thinking. They had been friends for a month and a half, she had just declared that he was one of her three best friends, and yet he couldn't trust her enough to answer two simple questions. "Oh, for Merlin's sake!" James raised his voice in aggravation at himself. "Maybe I can tell you, I'll see what I can do. You done with breakfast?"

"Er, yeah," said Lily, whose expression had gone from disappointed to confused.

"Let's walk back to Gryffindor tower together," said James, "and then I'll see what I can do about maybe telling you the answers to your questions."

Lily's face brightened again. "Hold hands again this time?" she asked.

James smiled and complied.

When they got to the tower, James left Lily to sit and chat with Marietta and Chloe while he went upstairs to the seventh year boys' dormitory.

James noticed that the only boys still in the room were Remus, Sirius, and Peter.

"Oi! You lot! Time for a Marauders' Conference!"

Sirius was the first to stir. "What, are we finally going to pull a proper prank?" he asked.

"No, although: At some point this month, I'm thinking we figure out a way to make the Slytherin common room, and the dungeons around it, impossible to walk on. Like, every time someone tries to walk on it, they fall down. Going to take some work to figure out the magic. But I'm about 90% it can be done," said James.

"Motion seconded," said Sirius. "Shit, I'm the only one awake, we can't even vote." He threw a pillow at Peter. "Wormtail!"

"What? Is somebody trying to attack us?" asked Peter, once he was startled awake.

"Petey, we're in the Gryffindor common-room. Who's going to attack us? The sixth years that idolize us?" asked Sirius.

"Sorry, bad dream," explained Peter. Peter seemed to be having a lot of bad dreams lately.

"So are you for or against the idea of making the Slytherin common room and surrounding hallway a magical slip-and-slide 'sometime this month'? asked Sirius.

"You two are both or it, I assume?" asked Peter.

"Of course," said Sirius.

"Then I suppose I'm on board. Won't be too dangerous, will it?" asked Peter.

"Give us some credit, we've got the invisibility cloak and the Marauders' Map. We can't screw this up," said Sirius.

"Yeah, speaking of those things, said James. "Oy! Remus, wake up!"

"Give a werewolf a break, would you?" asked Remus drowsily. "I've had a few days, you know."

"Yes, I know, and we all helped you through the nights. Now I have a big decision we have to make," said James.

"What is it?" asked Remus, who was becoming nicer as he woke up more and more.

James tried to think of the best way to phrase this. "Well, it involves Lily," said James.

Sirius threw his remaining pillow at him. "Of course it does!" said Sirius. "Half the conversations we've had for the past year have!"

"I want to show her the Marauders' Map and the invisibility cloak," said James.

"No, you can't," said Peter immediately. "What if she tells on us?"

"Okay, first of all, she won't, second of all, what's the worst that could happen if she did?" asked James.

"Well, we could get a load of detentions, maybe," said Lupin. "But that's happened to all of us before. The Marauders' Map isn't illegal in and of itself. It's not even technically against school rules to know a lot about the school. It's only the way that we found out the information that could get us into trouble, and you can't prove how we got it just by looking at the map. But if you tell her, I want you to tell her we all helped. Well. Except for Peter over there who's apparently too modest. Absolute worst that could happen, in my opinion is that the cloak and the map get confiscated. But the odds of her telling _and _you not getting a chance to hide the evidence are slim"

"So that's two votes for, and one against," said James. "Sirius."

"Fine, what can I say, I'm a romantic. Show her the map if you want, but no telling her about the Animagus stuff until she's really really proven she's loyal. Could take months. And I want credit on the map, too. Just know that in the unlikely event that she rats us out, I'm claiming it was all you. But I don't think she'd rat you out. Marietta wouldn't be friends with her if she wasn't loyal."

"Fine, I'll change my vote and stop being modest," said Peter with a grin.

"Perfect. I love it when these meetings end unanimously. Sirius, explain the slippery floor plan to Remus while I go tell Lily I've got a surprise for her tonight," said James.

"Well _that _sounded awfully dirty," pointed out Sirius, as James made his way down the stairs.

That night, at 11:00, James and Lily, under the cover of the invisibility cloak, left the empty Common Room.

"I'm just saying, who in the name of Merlin owns an invisibility cloak?" whispered Lily, who still couldn't get over the fact that they were invisible.

"Well, my father, apparently," whispered James. "But wait, you still haven't seen the coolest thing. Be silent and come with me to the abandoned class room one floor down."

"Yes, sir," said Lily with mock formality before grabbing hold of James' hand.

When they got down to the classroom, James opened the door and led Lily into the room. After they closed the door, he used his wand and a spell to light the torches in the room, one at a time. The door to the classroom was pure wood, so no one would know they were here unless they opened the door. He took off the cloak, leaving it on Lily.

"You can stay invisible if you like, until I show you how I know we're safe," said James.

Lily decided that that plan made sense. She was rather impressed that he had showed her the invisibility cloak. She was quite sure it was something that no one but the Marauders knew about. It took a lot of trust to show her that, but she wasn't going to start giving points until she saw the rest of what James wanted to show her tonight. She came near to the teacher's desk, where James had spread out a piece of parchment. It was white, seemingly made relatively recently, but it had clearly been well-used.

"What's that?" asked Lily, who wrapped her arm around James' shoulder. She told herself that the reason she did this was to let him know where she was, what with her being invisible and all. But she knew that that wasn't the only reason.

"Okay, can I trust you never to tell a soul?" asked James. "Even Marietta and Chloe? They might find out someday, if they stay such good friends with us, but you can't be the one who tells them."

"Fine, not a soul on Earth," said Lily.

"Okay." He tapped the map with his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Writing scrolled across the parchment. Lily gasped. _Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs purveyors of magical mischief supplies, are proud to present The Marauders' Map. _

"Who're Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?" asked Lily.

"We four Marauders," said James. "But watch close. You don't want to miss this next part."

And he was right. Lines poured across the parchment, like ink spilling into hundreds of tiny riverbeds. After an outline of what Lily quickly realized was the different floors of the school appeared, as well as the surrounding grounds, little dots appeared on the map, each with a tiny name beside it. "See where we are?" asked James, pointing to the classroom they were in. "And see how there's no one around us?"

"Yeah," said Lily, relaxing and taking off the invisibility cloak. "That thing really works?"

"Absolutely. It's how I caught Flint and Vice last night," said James.

"Shall we see if they're behaving tonight? Wait, how's this thing work? Where's the dungeons?" asked Lily.

James took Lily's hand and traced her fingers across the map, showing her where each floor was, which way was north, south, east, west. It was mostly an excuse to hold her hand.

"Got it," said Lily, although she did not remove her hand from James' grip. "So that mean the Slytherin dormitories are..." she led James' hand now, "...here."

"Right. And the seventh years sleep in this room," he moved Lily's hand a couple inches left. And, shit, actually, Vice and Flint seem to be out of bed again."

"Really? Who's on patrol tonight?" asked Lily.

"Ravenclaw 6th year boy, Hufflepuff 5th year girl," said James.

"Well, we need to make sure we run into the bastards first then. I mean, isn't that what you Marauder types do?" asked Lily, with a half-serious smile.

"Er, yeah, but we've got to see where they're at first," James said, scanning the map. He found them, for some reason, in a broom closet.

"They're not... gay, are they?" asked Lily.

"I don't know one way or the other on that," said James. "And frankly I don't care. That _is _however, along the route I came by last night when I dueled them. Maybe they're waiting to see if I come back that way again, so they can ambush me."

"How would they know it was you and not a professor," asked Lily.

"All the broom closets have a couple holes in the door. Small ones, but enough to press an eye up against. It's kept Sirius out of trouble quite a few times," said James.

"Fair enough. I think Marietta would like to be in a broom closet with Sirius. Don't tell her I told you though. Maybe try to feel out how receptive Sirius would be, though. And... Maybe make it clear we're not _just _talking about broom closet stuff here."

"I'll let him know," said James.

"Good. Now are we going to go take care of these two prats?" asked Lily?

"Er... you're sure you want to get into a duel?" asked James.

"Look, James, you're already getting 20 points for trusting me enough to show me all your cool stuff tonight. But you can get 10 more if you trust me enough to be your dueling partner."

"Of course I do, but-" said James.

"But you want to protect me, eh? Well James, I can take care of myself. And keep in mind that since you've just made it to a hundred points, when we kick those future-death-eaters' asses, I'll give you a nice big victory snog. How's that sound?" asked Lily.

"Sounds good to me," said James with a grin. If he loved this girl, he was going to have to trust her enough to let her fight alongside him. Especially if the opponents were two such idiotic prats as Vice and Flint. "You want to go in with the cloak or without."

"Without. Keep it in your pocket or something. We'll be able to see them, it wouldn't be brave to hide from them, now would it," asked Lily.

"Not when we're equally matched, no," admitted James.

"Right then," said Lily.

They began walking toward the broom closet. "You nervous?" James asked.

"Not really. Kind of excited. Dueling's fun," said Lily. "I mean, I think we'll win, for sure. And if not, we'll end up in the hospital wing. Neither of these guys are powerful enough to use Avada Kedavra, I'm sure."

"Geez, you're morbid," said James. "I think more-so that neither of them would kill someone in the school, whether they had the power to or not. Everyone knows I'm on the top of their hit list."

"You're morbid, too," said Lily with a laugh. "It's ok, though. We're going to live long, happy lives. We're just going to teach a lot of death-eaters a lot of lessons beforehand."

"Sounds like a plan," said James.

By this point, they were close enough to the broom closet for James to shout, "Come out you filthy pure-bloods!"

The closet door opened hesitantly. Two wands were the first thing James and Lily saw. Then Vice and Flint were in the corridor.

"Expelliarmus!" shouted James, pointing his wand at Flint, who he was now standing across from.

"Petrificus totalus!" Lily yelled at Vice, who blocked the spell with a defensive charm.

Flint's wand went flying out of his hand and scuttled down the hallway. James pointed his wand at Flint's getting ready to say, "Accio Wand!"

At the same time, Flint, who had pulled a second wand from out of his pocket, yelled "Petrificus Totalus! A third year Slytherin let me borrow his wand, which is why I let you get rid of it. Now I can do this: Cruciatus!"

Flint, it seemed, had gotten better at the Cruciatus curse. James felt immense pain in his chest, his stomach, his arms, his legs, and above all, a splitting headache. He tried to point his wand at Flint but couldn't muster the energy to do so. He could barely register the fact that Lily was still dueling Vice.

He heard her yell "Petrificus Totalus" again, and this time, Vice did not reply. It had only been ten seconds that he had been under the Cruciatus curse, but it felt like ten minutes. He kept trying desperately to point his wand at Vice.

Lily said "Petrificus Totalus!" once more, which snapped Flint's wand into a downward position, where it was no threat to James.

It took James a moment to recover from the pain, after which, Lily and James put their immobile forms back into the broom closet.

"You know," said James, as they were walking away. "If they're going to fight dirty, we should at least get to use the invisibility cloak."

"Or else you let me take the cleverer one next time," retorted Lily with a smile. "Sorry that you got tortured for so long, but Vice and I were having quite a fight ourselves."

"Don't worry about it. Thanks for saving my ass," said James, sheepishly.

"You'd have done the same for me. By the way, I owe you this," said Lily, who stopped James in the middle of the hallway and gave him a long, wonderful, passionate kiss with just a hint of tongue.

A/N: Please review and/or donate rice through free-rice dot com, and tell me how much you get. Thanks!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Gryffindor versus Slytherin

Because the previous year, Gryffindor had come in second, and Slytherin had come in third in the Quidditch cup, these were the two teams that would play in the first game of the season, Saturday, October 30th.

That meant that for the two weeks between James and Lily's first kiss, and the first Quidditch match, Sirius kept James so busy that he barely even had time to _think _about kissing the girl who he was sure would be his girlfriend by the time Christmas rolled around.

James knew he was lying to himself when he claimed not to have time to think about kissing Lily. He thought about it often, even while flying. It even had him distracted that a couple times it had gotten him struck by a bludger. Thinking about the way that her face had looked so tender and sweet as she leaned into kiss him, about how her lips grazed his and then pressed harder, about how he couldn't wait until the next time they kissed.

But the problem was, James contemplated, on the Tuesday night practice that was less than a week before the game, he couldn't seem to find an appropriate time to do it. She kept refusing his offers to go out roaming the halls with him late at night, and they weren't scheduled for a night-patrol shift together until mid-November. She also hadn't given him any points since the kiss, although she was still quite friendly, and they had a pleasant breakfast every morning.

James was almost tempted to wonder whether he was a lousy kisser and she had decided only to be friends with him. Granted, all the girls he had kissed before (only about 4, and he'd never been in love with any of them), had said he was a great kisser, but they all liked him because he was funny, and a quidditch star, and a marauder, and he wondered if they only complimented his kissing abilities because of all that.

Anne Adauctus passed the Quaffle to James. They were playing a scrimmage in which Sirius and the other beater, Alicia Laurence were playing against each other and the three chasers, James, Anne, and Sandra Ridenstone, were playing against Gary Devonshire, the Keeper. They only had one Bludger out and Sirius, given that he was the better keeper, was trying to protect the three chasers and hit the keeper, whereas Aicia had the opposite role. Marietta, of course, was simply chasing the snitch around and through the rest of the action. She would release it, wait five minutes, and then chase after it. She would do a little victory lap around the stadium with her arm held high whenever she caught it, so the rest of the team knew that she had caught it 3 times in an hour, which was quite impressive.

James passed the Quaffle to Sandra, who was near to the goals which were being defended by Gary. She put the Quaffle through the hoop just as James got slammed by a late bludger in the bicep.

"Sorry Jamesy!" said Alicia, who had, of course, been the one to hit the Bludger at him. But in a way, she probably was truly sorry that she had hit her target. Like James looked at the three 6th year girls on the team like little sisters, they looked to him almost as a brother. The youngest player on the team was Gary, in his 5th year. If the Gryffindors were going to win the Quidditch cup and break the streak of Ravenclaw domination with a couple of Slytherin years thrown in, this was going to be the year to do it.

"Yeah, sorry mate," said Sirius, "couldn't get to it fast enough."

"Does it hurt terribly?" asked Sandra. "Should I grab my wand from the stands?"

"No, I'll play through. Can't use magic remedies in a real game, unless it's a really serious injury. And this isn't even my throwing arm," said James.

So he played through, and they generally had a good practice. James was able to take his mind off of Lily for a short amount of time, and the Chasers came up with a few plays that they figured would confuse the hell out of the Slytherin keeper who was a sixth year who was, by most accounts, bigger than he was bright.

At the end of the practice, after the team was done changing, James asked Sirius to wait up for him.

"What's up, James?" asked Sirius, as they made their way back up to the castle a couple minutes after the rest of the team.

"Have you asked anyone to Hogsmeade yet, for the Halloween Hogsmeade weekend this Sunday?" asked James.

"Er... No. Why, did you want to ask me?" asked Sirius with a grin. "I don't tend to swing that way, but... I'd certainly let you buy me a firewhiskey or two and see what happened."

James rolled his eyes at Sirius' stupid joke. "No, look, seriously, who're you going to ask."

"I, er... haven't decided yet," said Sirius.

"Wait a minute," said James, revelation dawning along with surprise, "you're embarrassed about something having to do with a girl!"

"No!" denied Sirius, completely unconvincingly. "I just-"

"Okay, fine, let's make this easier for you. I'll ask you some true or false questions, and you just answer them. Think you can do that for me Padfoot, old boy?" asked James, who then attempted to rub Sirius' belly.

"Hey, you're only allowed to do that when I'm in my dog form!" said Sirius, barking with laughter as he forced James' hand away from his body. "But yeah, true or false sounds fine. Just no getting pissed at me."

James' eyes narrowed, "Pissed about what?" he asked.

"You'll find out," said Sirius.

"You're not going to ask Lily, are you?" asked James.

"Of course not! Let's just get this over with," said Sirius.

"Fine. Have you considered asking out Marietta?" asked James.

"Er... True," said Sirius, hesitantly.

"Why the hesitation?" asked James.

"First of all because it was a yes or no question, not a true or false. Second of all because I thought you'd be mad at me for wanting to ask out one of Lily's friends. If I screwed things up, Lily might hold a grudge against you by association. Plus, I don't even know if she likes me," said Sirius.

"Wow, ok, we've got a lot of information to work with here now," said James. "But I'll try to stick to the true/false format as promised. You like Marietta like as someone you could someday love, not as somebody who you could kiss in a broom cupboard and then dump in a week."

"True, I think I could love her. And you know me well enough to say that's not something I say lightly. I may snog at the drop of a hat, but I wouldn't say I might love someone who I know I don't. I don't know her as well as I want to, yet, but she's certainly someone who could hold my interest in plenty of places other than a broom closet. We had the most fascinating conversation this morning..." Sirius trailed off. James was freaked out because he was pretty sure he had never seen Sirius' eyes look quite like they did as he stared off into the distance just then.

"Right, well, forget about Lily being mad at me, I'll take that if it comes, plus Lily figures Marietta can take care of herself. And for your information, I have it on good authority that Marietta is rather into you herself," said James.

"Good authority being Lily?" asked Sirius.

"Unofficially, it could have been," said James.

"Right-o. I'll ask her tomorrow, then. Thanks, mate," said Sirius.

Friday night, the night before the game, Peter, Sirius, James, Remus, Lily, Marietta, and Chloe were busy planning how their Hogsmeade trip was that Sunday would go. The reason that they weren't talking about Quidditch was that after so many hours of practice in the past week, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was practiced out and knew the only thing left to do was to play the game tomorrow.

Besides, the seven teens had a lot to discuss. Each of them had dates.

Sirius had, true to his word, asked Marietta out on Wednesday. James, not to be shown up, had asked Lily at almost exactly the same time. Chloe asked Remus out on Thursday, admitting that she had liked him for a rather long time and wondering if there was any chance he felt the same way. Remus had smiled at her and said yes, he was rather fond of her, too, and would much enjoy her company in Hogsmeade. Peter, also on Thursday, had been asked by a Hufflepuff girl who was the best Chaser on their Quidditch team. She was in Sixth year, but even last year had scored most of Hufflepuff's points on goal. Peter himself was not particularly popular, but being a member of the famous Marauders had its perks.

"So where are you guys spending your time?" asked James to Remus and Chloe.

"Well we both really want to go to the bookstore..." said Chloe.

"Nerds," commented Sirius.

"Ravenclaws," joked James.

"We may be nerds, but we're Gryffindor through and through. Wasn't it brave of her to tell you that she wanted to spend some of her time in Hogsmeade in a bookstore?" asked Remus.

"_Good point _my dear friend, good point," conceded James.

"We'll probably go to Honeydukes as well, find someplace that's selling a light lunch that we can both agree on-"

"-We've discovered we don't have the same taste in foods. Except that we both like sweets, of course," said Chloe.

"Of course," said Lily.

Remus persistently picked up from the point where he had left off before the two girls had cut him off, " and then maybe head over for a drink at the Three Broomsticks. What about you and Lily?

"Lily has suggested that we walk around the town and do whatever strikes are fancy at the time," said James with an eye-roll.

"I don't want some pre-planned date where all you try to do is impress me," said Lily. "I already gave you five points for finally getting up the courage to ask me out. Took you long enough. Not as if there haven't been posters up for this thing for weeks."

"I thought-" James cut himself off, realizing that it would be rather embarrassing to admit that he had been, and still a little bit was, worried about whether he was a good enough kisser for Lily, who was quite impressive in the field.

"So maybe once we're there we can just have a fun, spontaneous time," said Lily.

"Fine, but can we all meet up at Fortescue's sundae-shop an hour before we have to come back up to the castle? It'd be a nice way to hear how everybody elses' day went," said James.

"Sounds good," said Lily, as everyone else nodded.

"You two?" asked James to Sirius and Marietta.

"Quality Quidditch Supplies first. Marietta just had a birthday and just got a load of galleons from her parents and other relatives. She wants to see if she has enough, with her own savings included, to buy a new broom. I only wish we could make the trip tonight before the game. Of course, I'm sure she'll wallop the Slytherin Seeker even on her Comet Model 10," said Sirius.

"It's a good broom!" said Marietta defensively. "My little sister, who will be trying out for the team, has already asked for it if I can afford a new one. But yeah, after that we're going to the Three Broomsticks. We're both of age now, so we can drink something harder than Butterbeer. No offense to you sixteen year olds."

"I've heard their thinking of changing the entrance age to 11 instead of 10," said Lupin.

"Doesn't make any sense to me, though," piped in Chloe. "As long as we're of age by the time we graduate, what's it matter? Almost everyone is able to produce magic at 10 with proper instruction, and those that aren't are asked to come back the next year. The weeding out process only takes a week and is hardly ever needed so somebody should tell the Board of Governors-"

"Merlin's Beard!" interrupted Lily. "You two _are _great nerds. I don't think there's any other witch and wizard on the planet who could change the subject from Hogsmeade to the Hogwarts Governors board in so few sentences. Peter, where are you and your date, -Dana Erickson, was it?- where are you going?"

"I'm going to let her decide. I figure maybe if I do what she wants she'll let me snog her," said Peter.

"Good thinking, Petey," said Marietta. "I think that's the same idea Sirius is working under."

James saw Sirius blush, and could hardly believe it. Very little made Sirius blush.

On the next morning, as James was finishing up his hardy breakfast to get him through the game, Lily said, "So, a win against Slytherin would be worth 10 points. 5 points, whether you win or lose, if you knock Flint off his broom."

Flint was a Beater for Slytherin. Fittingly, as he so enjoyed causing people pain. James nodded, deciding not to speak given that he had a large amount of scrambled eggs in his mouth.

"I was, er... joking about the last part," said Lily.

James swallowed. "I know, Lily. I'm just glad that I'm going to be at 115 by this afternoon."

"Pretty confident you're going to win, then, eh?" asked Lily.

"It's got nothing to do with me," admitted James. "Our chasers wouldn't half to show up and we'd still win. I'd put a dozen galleons on Marietta catching the Snitch within 15 minutes. It's going to be a short game, and Marietta's going to win it for us."

"No wonder the Quidditch captain's dating her," said Lily. "By the way, did you encourage Sirius to ask Marietta out?"

"Slightly. But he was already leaning in that direction. Wasn't sure if I would approve. Or if she would," said James.

"Well. 5 points for that as well. Hey, if Marietta's as good of a Seeker as you say she is, you could have 120 points by this afternoon."

"Well. With so much riding on this game, I'd better not be late to the locker-room," said James as he saw Marietta and Sirius rising a few seats down. "I'll look for you in the stands."

"Great," said Lily. "I'll be the one holding the big banner that says, 'I _might _love James Potter."

James laughed at Lily's joke as he left his seat.

Twenty minutes later, in the locker room, Sirius gave a short speech including the basic ideas that they were clearly the better team, meaning they should win, and they were playing Slytherin, which should give them extra incentive not to lose. He also warned the team, although all of them knew, that Slytherin was always known as the dirtiest-playing team among the four houses. All of his teammates nodded. They knew that if you played against Slytherin you were likely to get hurt in such a way that would earn you either a penalty shot or a trip to the Hospital Wing.

Before the game started, Sirius shook hands with Serena Wilcox, a Chaser, and frankly the only decent human being on the entire Slytherin team. She was known around the school as one of the very few Slytherins who hung around with muggle-borns. She even gave Sirius a smile during the handshake, which Sirius, somewhat grudgingly, returned.

At Madame Hooch's whistle, both teams were off with a shot.

Slytherin had possession of the Quaffle first, but James quickly stole possession when Serena passed to Andrew West, another Slytherin Chaser. James rocketed down toward the other side of the court, knowing it would take the Slytherin Chasers time to get down there.

Lily was listening to the announcer as she watched the game from the top row of seats (of course the best in the house for a Quidditch game), although the sign that she was holding actually said "Crush Those Snakes!"

"James Potter passes to Gryffindor Chaser Anne Adauctus, who... heads straight for the left goal... and... Wow! a tough throw into the right-hand goal. That takes some muscle. And Gryffindor is up by 10."

Quaffle Taken back by Serena Wilcox, passed to Slytherin Chaser Arthur Dent. Gryffindor Chasers are in hot pursuit, attempting to take the ball away, Potter is closest to Getting there, and... Flint hits him in the leg with a Bludger, knocking him substantially off course. That one looked like it hurt."

Lily cringed, wishing she could perform a healing charm on James right away and stop his pain. It was hard watching someone whom you were beginning to strongly suspect you were in love with get hurt, reflected Lily.

"Potter is, of course, back in pursuit. Potter is a Chaser who will never stop chasing, that is for sure. Oooh, but the Slytherins throw the ball toward the hoop and it is... Nice save by Devonshire on that one, really quite impressive. And Gryffindor has the ball back. Sandra Ridenstone starts out with it, passes it far up the field to Anne Adauctus, who dives about 20 feet to retrieve it. I would almost call that sloppy play if it didn't work out so well, as all the Slytherin Chasers are left far up the field covering Potter and Ridenstone. Adauctus races toward the goals. A Bludger is hit out of her path by Black, who then manages to hit it at the Keeper. The shot is completely uncontested as Ridenstone tosses the Quaffle lightly through the hoop."

The Gryffindor stands erupted with applause once again, as did much of the rest of the stands as Hufflepuff and about half of Ravenclaw wanted Gryffindor to win. The half of Ravenclaw who didn't want Gryffindor to win were the ones who realized that Gryffindor were their true competition for the cup this year, and a Gryffindor loss to Slytherin should help Ravenclaw.

There was a lot of Gryffindor applause through the early goings of the game. James, although he did not score either of the first two goals, scored 4 of the next 6 Gryffindor goals. It was 80 to 30 by the time he made his fourth goal.

It was only about 15 minutes into the game, but Lily reflected that if the game went too much longer they may be able to widen the lead to over 150 points. The Gryffindor Chasers were certainly better than those for Slytherin.

When the score was 100 to 40, Marietta went into a dive. Lily squinted as hard as she could but just couldn't make out the glint of Gold that Marietta must have seen. The Slytherin seeker, Joseph White, dived as well. It was hard to tell who was closer, or even, for Lily, where they were gone.

Suddenly, Flint, who did not have a Bludger nearby, knocked straight into Marietta, making her clutch her broom to stop from falling off. At the same moment, Sirius skillfully hit White off course using the more by-the-book method of a Bludger.

Madam Hooch was blowing so hard through her whistle that the redness in her face could be faintly seen from the stands. Her magically enhanced voice could be heard from the stands.

"Flagrant violation of rules, two penalty shots to Gryffindor, and if Flint breaks the rules again he will be ejected from the game."

James easily made the two penalty shots, putting Gryffindor up 120 to 40. But of course the game could have been over had Flint not hit Marietta in the first place.

Sirius' next Bludger shot was, unusually though not illegally, aimed at a fellow Beater, Flint.

However James could understand why he would put possible love in front of strategy, even though the fooling around did allow Slytherin to score, and change the score to 120 to 50.

James passed the quaffle to Anne, who passed to Sandra as James climbed high into the air. Anne and Sandra passed the Quaffle back and forth to each other a couple times around midfield, essentially playing keep away from the Slytherin Chasers, with the Gryffindor Beaters making sure the Bludgers did not interfere with the little game of monkey in the middle.

Suddenly, James dove, racing down the field, the ball being tossed 20 feet up to him when he passed midfield. The Slytherin beaters, one of which had managed to get control of a Bludger chased James down the field. James was still diving rather fast, and from all the built up momentum was going so quick that he could see a look of fear on the Keeper's face. Perhaps he was wondering if he would return the favor that Marietta had received from Flint.

But he simply took advantage of the Chaser's confusion at this unusual maneuver to rocket the quaffle through the right ring.

While the crowd, and most of both teams had been focusing on this activity which had put Gryffindor up 130 to 50, Marietta and Joseph White were in twin dives again.

Marietta was closer to the ground, which James certainly hoped was a good sign although he could not- oh wait, there it was, there was the Snitch, yes, Marietta had a definite advantage. James looked at the Slytherin team. One or two had started to chase her, but none were close enough to catch her. Unless she somehow lost sight of it or White figured out a way to get closer to the ground faster, then the game would be Gryffindor's.

Lily saw her friend raise her closed hand in triumph at the same time she hear thd announcer shout, "And Gryffindor wins 280 to 50. Of course, Ravenclaw was hoping for a closer game, as was Slytherin. We will have to wait to see what Ravenclaw does against Hufflepuff next month to see just how Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stack up to each other, but..."

Lily became rather distracted from the commentary by what was going on on the field. Most of the players were descending calmly to the ground, although the Slytherins were going more quickly and diving slightly, probably out of anger. However, Sirius and Marietta were racing toward each other. Once they got close, they hovered over to within inches of each other, and gave each other a mid-air kiss in front of all of Hogwarts. Somehow, Lily thought, it was a good fit for them, as far as a first kiss. Neither Marietta nor Sirius were ones to do things small.

A/N: Please review... I mean, we're 10 chapters in, so if you haven't reviewed yet, now is the time to do it. Also, if you want to make my day, please visit freerice dot com and donate some rice in honor of this story and let me know how much you donate in your review. Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Hogsmeade

The Marauders, Lily, Chloe, Marietta, and Peter's new friend from Hufflepuff, Andrea Johnson walked down to Hogsmeade together. Sirius, Marietta, Andrea, and Peter were at the front of the group, talking about the game the previous day. Remus, Chloe, Lily, and James, were talking about something that, apparently, was rather fascinating from the previous Charms class. James did not find it quite as enthralling as he knew he was likely to find the Quidditch conversation.

Lily sensed this, and whispered to James, "You know, I wouldn't mind if you talked with your Quidditch folk. One more person in the conversation might distract from how little Peter knows about the game." James rather liked it when Lily whispered to him. He liked how close it made her lips get to his ear.

James whispered back. "Yeah, you'd think he'd have picked up more of the game from being around me and Sirius all these years."

Lily hissed back, still only inches from his ear, "Yeah, well, you'd think he'd've picked up some transfiguration from so many years around Professor McGonagall."

"Right-oh," said James lightly, choosing to assume that Lily was joking, given that otherwise she had just insulted one of his best friends. Lily was, it turns out, only half-joking. Sure, Peter was loyal to his friends, but as far as Lily was concerned, there was no point arguing that he might have fit in in Ravenclaw. It wasn't that he was _stupid_, it was just that he wasn't bright either.

James kissed Lily on the cheek as he took a few steps forward to talk to his friends about Quiddtich. The conversation became twice as loud as soon as James joined the conversation. Basically, anytime James and Sirius were involved in the same conversation, it was a party. Which gave the other three a chance to step back a couple steps and have their own, quieter conversation without a chance of being overheard.

"So, only a cheek-kiss, eh? Haven't you two been dating for almost two months?" asked Remus, eyebrows cocked.

"Technically this is our first date," said Lily.

"You've eaten breakfast alone together for the past... month and a half. I don't mean to quibble over semantics, but... that's awfully close to dating," said Remus. He paused. "I mean, I know it's none of my business, I'm just a bit curious."

"Me too," chimed in Chloe.

"Well... Remus, you're my friend, too, right?" asked Lily.

"Of course!" said Remus. "Ever since 5th year when you stopped seeing me as just one of those filthy Marauders and started looking at me like an actual person in my own right."

"Yeah," said Lily," sorry about those first four years," said Lily.

"All forgiven. Besides, we _were _rather despicable, at the time," admitted Remus.

"Fine. So if I tell you both some things about me and James, I can trust that neither of you will tell him?" asked Lily.

Chloe nodded fervently. Remus said, "Of course, Lily. Every person in a relationship needs people to vent to. No other way for the relationship to be healthy. If I'm one of the people you vent to, you have my word, I will not breathe a word of it to James."

"Thanks Remus. Thanks Chloe. Well, so here's the thing. I gave him our first kiss, as a 'reward' for reaching a hundred points, like, half a month ago. It was mostly more of a way to tell him it was okay for him to kiss me now. But all he's been trying to do is get me alone in a broom closet or something. And that's not romantic at all. I mean, I understand he's the incredible James Potter and all that rubbish, so he's never had to work hard to impress girls, but honestly! Why not wait up with me one night in the common room and kiss me in the dying fire-light? Or invite me to a Quidditch practice and at the end we could walk by ourselves and have a couple of starlit kisses in the dark? Is that really too much to ask?"

The five teens talking about Quidditch had just decided that the way the Quidditch season would shake out would be that Slytherin would come in last, Ravenclaw in third (after losing to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw), Hufflepuff in second, and Gryffindor in 1st. Even Andrea, the Hufflepuff, was unable to argue that with Marietta's recently proved seeking skills a Hufflepuff win in that game was quite unlikely. The Gryffindors in the group didn't really believe that Hufflepuff had a shot at winning second, but as Andrea was there, and since they had quite the grudge against Ravenclaw from last year, they conceded the point.

Soon they were down at Hogsmeade, and separated.

Remus and Chloe went to the bookstore first. Chloe had not, in the four previous years that they'd been eligible to go to Hogsmeade, ever been able to convince her friends to go with her to the book store. They said looking around at a bunch of wizarding books would be too close to what they did all week. Chloe knew what they meant, and agreed. She was simply content walking around Hogsmeade with her friends. It really was a beautiful place. But she was also grateful, even ecstatic, that Remus had suggested it as the first stop on her date. She was grateful because it meant she would get to go, and ecstatic because it meant she was going on a date with someone who would go to bookstores with her. And this was supposed to be the largest wizarding bookstore in Britain.

Remus politely opened the door for Chloe. Chloe gasped as she stepped inside. The bookstore seemed to have even more books than the Hogwarts library. There was only one floor, but the ceiling was 20 feet in the air and the bookshelves rose all the way up to it.

"How do we get up there?" asked Chloe in an awed whisper.

An old man walked over. There was a small wooden board hovering at waist length in front of him, wide enough for two people to sit on. As he walked toward them, the board made its way behind them and lowered itself so that it was at the perfect height for the two teens to sit on. They looked at the old man questioningly.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mr. Potiphar," said the old man. "I am the owner of this rather fabulous establishment, and the magical wooden board that is hovering behind you hoping to be sat on. Once you sit on it, you mention a subject of the type of book you'd like to see or a direction that you'd like the board to take you, or stop or go, or any basic command, and it will comply, getting you where-ever you need to go. Since one or two people have had trouble working the boards, just shoot up red sparks with your wand and I'll be over in a snap if you need it. Are you two on a date?" asked Potiphar with a wink and a smile.

"Yes, sir," said Remus politely.

"Good. Well, if you find something that you want to buy, let me know. You'll find my prices very reasonable. If you do not, that's fine, too. I think of this place more as museum or as a library than as a bookstore, anyway. All the books were bought with money that I inherited from my late wife. Used to be her name was Mary Maycomb. She was the heiress of Gryffindor. And as she and I were able to have children, there are no more heirs now. But alas, that Voldemort chap is rumored to be the heir of Slytherin, so maybe we're better off not having heirs of the founders around after all. Of course, she ended up in Ravenclaw, just like me. So some heiress she turned out to be, depending on how you look at it, I suppose," said Potiphar.

"I'm sure she was a great heiress," said Chloe.

"Well, I'm glad you think so," said Potiphar kindly. "What house are you two in, then? We get mostly Ravenclaws in here, I find."  
"Gryffindor, sir" answered Remus proudly.

"Good to hear it, now I'm doing something for the Gryffindor line again. It's funny that you call me sir," said Potiphar. "Not how I think of myself. Anyway, any questions?"

For some reason that she would not be able to understand for the rest of her life, Chloe felt the urge to bond with this man somehow. To figure him out, to get to know him. So she said, "I'm sorry to hear about your wife. It's very sad when people die, even of old age."

"What makes you think she died of old age dear?" asked Potiphar kindly but curiously. Suddenly he seemed to remember his own age. "Oh yes. Well. She wasn't nearly this old when she died. Over 30 years ago now. Back during the war with Grindelwald, before Dumbledore could fix the problem."

"I, I'm... I'm sorry, sir, I didn't know," said Chloe.

"Not many people bother to ask," said Potiphar. "Died in bed right beside me. We still don't know who did it. We didn't know enough to charm our houses with magical alarms so early in that war. Only know it was magic because the Avada Kedavra curse burned a hole in the sheets and the mattress but didn't touch her. It must have been Grindelwald or one of his cronies, though. Probably Grindelwald himself, though, since his prey was the heir of Gryffindor. Funny, almost, how he felt the need to kill her even though he himself was not the heir to Slytherin or any such thing. But he left me alive there, in bed, to wake up the next morning without her. To remind me that I wasn't worth killing, that I couldn't save her. I hated that man from then on. Still do. Hope he can feel my hate for him in that prison they've got him rotting in right now. But I was one of the ones who helped lure Grindelwald and his cronies into that last duel. Killed a couple of his friends, I did. I wonder if one of those Death-Eaters will come kill me this time. It'd be almost anticlimactic for a man like me to die of old age. But I'm sorry to have put a damper on your date."

Remus looked at Chloe, whose date did indeed appear to have been dampened. She looked very sad. It wasn't that Remus wasn't touched by the man's story, it was just that he was looking at it as a puzzle. Why kill one spouse and not the other? But he didn't know the man enough to feel sad for him, especially when Potiphar himself was talking so nonchalantly.

"Let's get on the board, honey," said Remus, tripping over the last word. He had never been exactly smooth with the ladies, and he liked Chloe more than he liked anyone before.

Chloe smiled slightly at his near-failure at calling her honey. She also, however, looked to be near tears as she said, "Pick a section to tell the board to go to."

Potiphar was already hobbling off as if he had dozens of other customers to wait on, even though the bookstore was deserted. This left Remus sitting on a wooden board with a nearly crying girl. This was not within Remus' comfort zone.

"Er... Happy ending love-stories!" Remus practically shouted, unsure of how loud he needed to talk for the board to hear him. He heard Potiphar guffaw and Chloe giggled. The board jolted up and began whizzing to the left. This gave Remus an opportunity to squeeze Chloe tight around the shoulders and Chloe was appreciative that he took it. She liked the way his arm felt wrapped around her.

"Remus?" asked Chloe, as they arrived at a shelf, about sixteen feet in the air, with pink and light blue colored books with titles including, "Huffing and Puffing: Hufflepuffs in Love," "A Charming Gryffindor at the Door," and "When Two Wands Become One."

"Yes, Chloe?" said Lupin.

"Do you think there will be another war, and if there is will you fight in it?" asked Chloe.

"Of course there's going to be another war. The Death-Eaters have been gearing up for one for years, and Dumbledore is starting to organize a resistance, although don't tell anyone, because that might be information that only James is supposed to know. But of course he tells us everything. And yes. I'll fight," said Remus.

"What if you... What if you..." Chloe kept hesitating.

"I won't die," said Remus, knowing perfectly well that there was no way he could know that.

"What if you have to kill someone?" asked Chloe.

Remus was shocked that that had been the question she was trying to get out. "I'd sooner kill someone than let them kill my friend," said Remus, without hesitation.

"But... that's some one's kid, some one's father, some one's wife..." said Chloe.

"So is my friend I'm trying to save," said Remus.

"I'm not even saying for you," said Chloe. "You're a great guy, Remus, I've known that for years. I know we didn't talk too much, because we were both hanging out with our own friends, but... we've been partners in classes sometimes, and now I really do know you. You're a good man. I just don't think I could do it. I'd have to _want _to. And I don't know if I could ever want to kill someone."

"You won't have to today, Chloe," said Remus. "You don't even know how. And maybe you'll never learn. But for now we've got what appear to be lewd romances with happy endings to browse through."

Chloe giggled. "I want to have a lewd romance with a happy ending."

The next thing that Remus and Chloe knew, they were snogging 8 feet up in the air. And here Remus had always thought Chloe was such a shy girl.

"I am not much of a fire-whiskey girl, apparently," said Marietta, shyly.

"You've still gotta play the game, though," said Sirius.

"What, you're saying that me not being a fire-whiskey girl isn't something that no one knows?" asked Marietta.

"That's what I'm saying. I bet if you took a survey of the school, three quarters would say you're not a fire-whiskey girl," said Sirius.

"Fine, then. You go first," said Marietta.

"Fine," said Sirius, downing the rest of his first fire-whiskey. Fire-whiskey came in six ounce cups, but one cup was worth about a shot of hard muggle-liquor, as far as alcohol goes. The other stuff in it was what made it taste so hot, and also gave the drinker a higher sense of boldness than the equivalent amount of alcohol would do. Legend had it that it was Godric Gryffindor's drink of choice. Sirius was able to get through two without noticing much except a pleasant sense of increased courage. That's what he planned to do today, since he had to go back to school in the evening. "Something that nothing else knows about me is that I stole a thousand galleons from my family before I left the house. Snuck it out in small chunks over about a week, since I couldn't carry out a treasure chest. I hid it in a place no one will think to look for it. It's not much of a crime, since they won't notice it's gone. They're probably using half their wealth right now to fund Voldemort and recruit death eaters. Whereas I'll use what I stole to buy a flying motorcycle as soon as I get out of Hogwarts. Quite the better cause"

"Wow," said Marietta. "Well. Family story for a family story. You know how I'm supposed to be from this 'wealthy' wizarding family?"

"Yeah. You've mentioned it enough times," said Sirius.

"Well, my Dad's a Muggle."

"What's so bad about that?" asked Sirius.

"Well, nothing, except that when my mum told him about it, he said he was fine with it, as long as she didn't use it around him. So the house is totally muggle. When I go home for summers, it's totally like being in the Muggle world, except that I'm allowed to have an owl. Still, it's weird. That's why I spend so much time at Chloe's house, and always invite Lily and Chloe to go out when we hang out over the summer, but never invite them over. I'm embarrassed that my mother's a witch and my house is muggle."

"Huh. That _is _kind of weird. And by the rules of the game, neither of us can tell a soul," said Sirius. "Well. Mind sitting here and talking to me while I drink another fire-whiskey?"

"I'd sit here talking to you for a dozen fire-whiskeys," said Marietta, with a smile that showed that she knew how corny she sounded but didn't care.

"So what do you want to _do_?" asked Lily in a way that frustratingly suggested that James had not in fact been offering up suggestions on that very topic for the past hour as they'd wandered through the streets of Hogsmeade.

"How about we go to the pet-store? I'll buy you an owl," suggested James, without much hope that his suggestion would meet a warm reception.

Lily giggled, "No, no James. No need for a bribe. This is an actual date." She looked at James with polite concern. "Aren't you having a good time?"

"We've been walking around for an hour, we haven't actually done anything, we're just-" James sputtered, his helplessness with the situation showing through. Lily had rejected every idea he'd had, calling it too normal or too predictable.

"Relaxed and walked around together. I've had worse dates. Haven't you?" asked Lily.

"I suppose so," said James. They'd had some pleasant conversations in between his failed attempts to suggest a place to go, and that was certainly nice.

"If you're really unable to come up with an original idea, we can just walk around like this all day for all I care," said Lily. "There will be other Hogsmeade trips. Probably even other Hogsmeade trips where we're on a date."

James laughed. "Your bluntness is refreshing," he joked. Then, he finally had an idea. "You see that tree over there?"

"What, the one on the hill? Beside the one that looks all mangled like it got struck by lightning?" asked Lily.

"It _did _get struck by lightning," said James.

"And how would you know that, James," asked Lily.

_Shit _thought James. The way he knew was that he had seen the tree get struck by lightning while he was in his stag form. At the time he had been running like hell toward the shrieking shack, uncomfortably aware that among the four friends in animal form, he was by far the tallest, and his antlers were practically lightning rods.

He decided to change the subject, in a way that he hoped against hope would come off as subtle. "Yeah, but that tree on the hill, look how beautiful and shady it is," said James.

"I'm more interested in the one to the left of the hill," countered Lily. "The one that you somehow know for a fact was struck by lightning. The mysterious James Potter strikes again! What, do you have another map that shows you when lightning strikes?" She began flirtatiously tickling James in the ribs.

James laughed involuntarily. "No tickling!" he gasped. "Seriously... I... Hate it!"

He took Lily's arms and pinned them against her body. Lily couldn't move her arms, but managed to force herself to the ground, bringing James with her. So there they were, just on the periphery of Hogsmeade, by the path to the hill with the tree, James pinning Lily down on the grass.

"Wow James," she said. "You're strong. It's sexy."

James debated whether this would be the right moment to kiss her.

But he was cut off. "What were you saying about the tree on the hill?" asked Lily.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go lie underneath it?" said James.

"Sure," said Lily, "if you let me up."

Half an hour later, once they had reached the tree and were far from prying eyes, Lily tried to tickle James again. He pinned her arms to the ground and positioned his body above hers. James waited for a moment, loving the longing he saw in her eyes. Finally, he kissed her. Lily had never dated a better kisser.

"Want to go to Honedukes?" asked Peter of Andrea.

"Sure," said Andrea, pleasantly. Then she giggled. "Ooooh, I know why you want to get me candy! You want to fatten me up so I don't fly as well! Then Gryffindor will beat Hufflepuff."

"Yeah, that's it," said Peter with a chortle. "As if Gryffindor will need any help getting past Hufflepuff. Marietta, James, and Sirius will beat you no problem."

"See, that's why I like you," said Andrea. "You're really loyal to your friends and your House."

"Thanks Andrea," said Peter, knowing that that wasn't the reason that she had come here with him at all. She didn't _like _him at all. Just having a date with Peter was almost as good as having a date with one of the Marauders who people actually liked. She'd gotten to walk down to town with them, after all, and would be having ice-cream with them shortly. Not a bad bargain for an afternoon with Peter Pettigrew.

"So Honeydukes and then ice-cream?" asked Andrea.

"Yeah," said Peter.

The Fortescue who owned this sundae shop was the brother of the one who owned the one in Diagon Alley. Both shared a definite likability. Each of the teens smiled at Fortescue as he gave them their orders, and then they went outside to sit. Going outside to sit at a place like this was part of the fun, in most of the teens opinion, even though it was getting chilly in the first place, being almost November, and even though they were eating ice-cream. There were little benches and tables set up outside and they were going to have a picnic out there, damn it, because it was going to be the last one they could have until at least April.

"I don't know why we insist on spoiling our appetites for the Halloween feast," pointed out Andrea.

"It's four thirty now. We've got two and a half hours until the feast. Including the long walk back to the castle," said James.

"Wrong answer," said Andrea, smiling as she took her first bite. "The reason is that it's effing delicious."

All 8 teens laughed. And throughout the twenty minutes it took them to eat their sundaes, wrapped tightly in cloaks to spite the cold that they were insisting on ignoring, they chatted and laughed.

"Time to go to the bathroom," said Marietta, once she was done with her sundae. And like clockwork, all the girls got up and followed Marietta to Fortescue's bathroom.

"Girls are so weird," said Peter.

"Yeah. Figure on heading up after this? The streets are almost deserted," said Remus.

"People are preparing for their Halloween feasts. They've done their shopping already," reasoned James.

"So how did you guys make out?" asked Sirius. "Anyone get snogged?"

Everyone at the table raised their hands.

"You too Petey?" asked Sirius, impressed.

"Yeah. I, er, showed her my Gryffindor courage this afternoon by touching the Shrieking Shack to prove I wasn't afraid of ghosts," he said.

"Brilliant!" said Sirius.

"Er... Padfoot... you invented that move," said James.

"Ooooh, maybe I'm brilliant too," said Sirius.

"Why are you brilliant?" asked Marietta, who was now back from the bathroom.

"Because I'm dating you," said Sirius without a second's hesitation.

"Ooooh," said Lily. "Keep that one around for awhile."

In the next second, Lily was reminded of the sound of a bag of popcorn at the height of popping. She had never heard so many people apparate at once.

The 8 teens turned quickly and saw a dozen people wearing death-eater masks. One spoke.

"The Dark Lord has sent us here to capture you. There is no need for you to die. Come peacefully and the Dark Lord will show mercy to you. Do not draw your wands," he said.

Seven wands, however, were drawn before he had even gotten to that part of his prepared statement. Peter was the only hold-out. The others got up and ran toward the line of death eaters, already shouting spells, making as much noise as the death-eaters who had just begun the battle as well.

Peter had a moment of crisis. Could his friends save him now? Would he-who-must-not-be-named torture him if he was captured after putting up a fight. Was there someone stronger who could save him?

Then Peter had an idea. He knew that they were looking to capture, not kill. And he was the only one among the group that had an animagus form that would allow him to escape. If they started rounding up the others, he would disappear into the grass. He could do it even if he was petrified.

So Peter took out his wand and approached the fray. After all, no one would ever question his loyalty to his friends. No one had even noticed the moment's hesitation, being too busy with their own charge into battle.

A/N: School's back in now. More reviews equals more reason to procrastinate from work. And remember: You are also strongly encouraged to donate rice for this story. You can win it at freerice dot com and then let me know (in a review) how much you've won for this story in particular. This is for the group fanfictioners against world hunger. if you want to join, let me know.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The Battle of Hogsmeade

Lily figured the Death-eaters were not expecting them to charge so fast. Several of them didn't get spells off right away, and those that did often had terrible aim. Lily nevertheless had to dodge a spell, but was comforted by the fact that the light wasn't green. They really were trying to capture, not kill. Not that Lily had any desire to be captured by Lord Voldemort, nor could she guarantee that death wouldn't be a better option. But a petrifying curse could be reversed. Avada Kedavra could not.

It was James and Andrea who got the first two successful shots at the Death Eaters. Two were petrified before anything bad happened to a single one of the teens. By this time Peter had joined the fray. Nobody except the Death-Eaters noticed that he was a few feet back and to the left of the rest of the group. The other students could not see him, they were too focused on the death-eaters in front of them and essentially the person to their right and to their left. The high stress and focus of battle would do that to a person. Gave a person tunnel vision almost.

Any hope they thought they might have of making short work of the death-eaters was extinguished, however, as soon as the other Death-Eaters un-petrified those who were petrified. A huge advantage in numbers could do that for you, though Lily. Damn those Slytherins and their lack of any sense of fairness.

Now, the aim of the death-eaters was getting better, now that they were more accustomed to the idea of actually having to bring the teenagers in by force. And although every time the one of the Death-Eaters was petrified, there was one ready to reverse the spell, both Sirius and Marietta were lying on the ground petrified with everyone else to busy dodging and firing spells at the opponent to do anything for them just at the moment.

Finally, James, having dropped to the ground to avoid a spell, rolled toward Sirius and mumbled the countercurse.

"Thanks mate," said Sirius quickly, before jumping up and rejoining the battle, but in that moment, Remus was petrified in his stead.

Things were looking hopeless, until the door of Fortescue's sundae shop slammed open and the owner made his way out of the shop at a run.

The battle paused for a moment as everyone was shocked to see him run through the throng of teenagers to the front of the fray. Lily had the presence of mind to un-petrify Remus and Marietta.

After the surprise of the death-eaeters once again wore off, about half a dozen spells were shot at him, but he dropped to the ground, as did the teenagers behind him, who the spells would have hit as they ricocheted off each other having missed their intended target.

From the ground, Fortescue sent up a stream of flame which he managed to drag across the chests of two different death eaters before another death-eater hit him with a bright green Avada Kedavra curse.

Fortescue, Hogsmeade's best and friendliest supplier of sundaes, was dead.

There was a moment when each side tallied up their positions. Two of the death-eaters were still burning, and now would have been the perfect time for the 8 teens to attack, except that all of them except for Marietta, James, and Sirius were too shocked at the death they had just witnessed to go forward.

The two burning death-eaters dropped to the ground and started to roll. Marietta, James, and Sirius each managed to land a proper Petrificus Totalus curse while dodging spells thrown against them.

However, Remus got petrified again as did Lily.

Andrea managed to un-petrify each of them. Lily was forcefully reminded of the game she had played on muggle play grounds and streets, freeze-tag. The stakes were a bit higher here.

Peter had tried to aim a few spells at the death-eaters. One he nearly hit. But it was so hard to force himself to take shots. What if they were mad at him for resisting? What if he got caught and tortured?

Seconds later, through a process that Lily only managed to follow part of, there was one death-eater petrified to three of the teens, Sirius, Andrea, and Chloe. The remaining five teens were once again too busy dodging spells that would make the odds even less even to unpetrify their friends; it was nearly impossible to aim when one was dropping, rolling, or jumping. Lily had tried such a maneuver, but the spell went nearly a foot to Chloe's right.

Suddenly a woman in her late twenties ran out of the alley to the left of the Death-Eaters' rear. She was wearing robes in Slytherin colors, but certainly not a death-eaters' uniform. For a second, the students wondered if she would join the death-eaters' side.

But before the death-eaters even knew she was coming, she had killed one of them using Avada Kedavra.

Half the death-eaters turned around at the first curse, and a second one dropped to the ground a moment later.

All the death-eaters turned around and focused on this woman, hitting her with no less than five killing curses. The job was done no more effectively than had it been one, but the full attention which this apparent Slytherin had merited from the Death-Eaters allowed the students to reverse the petrifying curses afflicting almost half their number.

The battle was now ten to eight.

The Death-Eaters, however, were now ready to become more vicious.

Only several seconds after the battle recommenced in earnest, one of the death-eaters cast a Cruciatus spell, non-verbally, on Lily.

Everyone saw her drop to the ground and begin writhing in pain. Mostly, the teens tried to petrify as many people as they could on the other side, hoping that they would petrify whoever was cursing Lily and make it stop. But it turned out that the Death-Eaters were as good at dodging as their enemies, and only one was hit. It was not the one who was cursing Lily.

James looked at the other side, and saw one Death-Eater whose wand was not moving, and it was pointing at Lily. James yelled "Accio Wand!"

At the same time that Lily was cursed, another death-eater performed the Cruciatus on Peter. No one noticed, as he was a bit back from the main line of students. Sirius, the one closest to him in position, had been periodically glancing to the point on the field where Peter stood, but he was too busy trying to get Lily taken care of to look at this moment to notice.

The pain was unbearable, every muscle felt like it was ripping apart.

Lily's pain was relieved as the wand was ripped out of the Death-Eater's hand and came rocketing toward James who this time expertly caught it and snapped it almost at the same time.

Odds were down to 9 to 8.

It was in this moment of triumph that Sirius noticed Peter writhing on the ground, and found and petrified the Death-Eater responsible for it. Peter, however, could not help but feel hurt that it had taken so long for anyone to notice his pain. It had only been about ten seconds, but to Peter it had felt like much longer. Part of him felt as if his friends had failed him.

The Death-Eaters were not happy about James snapping the wand, a fact which one of them made clear by burning him across the chest. "Merlin!" said James, as he dropped to the ground to put out the fire.

Lily was having a hard time getting up, the after-effects of the Cruciatus curse not completely done. Whoever had done it was clearly more skillful than Flint. She was wondering whether she could fight at one hundred percent.

Suddenly, though, two more brightly clad figures with wands held above their head came charging down a nearby hill, clearly itching to join the battle.

"Disapparate!" yelled one of the Death-Eaters. One put his hand on the man whose wand James had destroyed, and soon all were gone.

As the two figures from the hill came into nearer view it became clear that they were other residents of the village. They must have heard unforgivable curses being used in their town and decided that such a thing could not be tolerated.

As they came even closer, it became obvious that one of the two people was Frank Longbottom.

"Oi!" said James, as they approached. "How are you doing?"

"Better than you, I'd say," pointed out Frank.

"Until you showed up, yeah," pointed out Sirius, who had also played Quidditch with Frank.

"Frank, where are your manners?" asked James. "Whose your friend, mate?"

"My manners? I forgot them on that hill when I was running over here to save your ass," said Frank. "He's my roommate, Michael McLanahan. Ravenclaw. Also in Auror training."

"Hey, nice to meet you. Nice to meet anyone who's just saved my life, actually," said James. Handshakes were exchanged all around.

"Actually, I've never met you either," said Andrea to Frank. "Started playing for Hufflepuff the year after you graduated. I mean, I've seen you play, but..."

Frank shook her hand.

"James, that looks like a nasty burn," said Frank.

"Yeah, hurts like hell," said James.

"Oh! Sorry James! I should have said sooner. Did you want me to do any kind of healing charms on that? I mean, you'll still have to go to Pomfrey to get it properly healed, but... I can soothe the pain, anyway," said Lily.

"You two dating finally?" asked Frank.

"Today was our first date," said Lily, as she stepped in front of James and started to mutter spells under her breath and point her wand at James' chest.

"Merlin," said Michael, as he looked around, taking note of what everybody else was trying to forget: the four dead bodies on the ground.

"You going to be a healer?" asked Frank of Lily.

"An Auror," said Lily. "Going to be harder for me than for James, of course. He's better at Defense Against the Dark Arts than me."

"Not by much," said James with a shrug, then turned to Frank. "How's your training going by the way?"

"Pretty well. Second year is the hardest, since it's the last, but we just passed our stealth test," said Frank.

"So what you're saying is that you were hiding stealthily on that hill until you were sure it was safe to come out and help us?" asked James.

They all laughed, but only a little. A joke like that wasn't really appropriate just now, Lily knew. But part of Lily loved James for being able to tell jokes at times when no one else would.

"All we did was even up the odds," said Michael. "Ten to ten, right? I counted them as we were coming down the hill from our house."

"Good counting," said James. "But I snapped one of their wands."

"And ended up with a burn across his chest," pointed out Lily.

"Right. So. Two dead from the Death-Eaters and... Merlin, is that Fortescue?" asked Frank.

"Yeah. And that woman in Slytherin colors was apparently on our side, too," said Remus.

"Right," said Michael. "Well, we'd better report this. And why don't you guys get back to Hogwarts. Actually, are any of you of age?"

"Yeah," said Sirius. "Me and Marietta.

"Great. Have everyone side along apparate to-" said Frank.

"The Honeydukes basement. There's a secret passage to Hogwarts, we won't get attacked in there."

"Sounds good," said Frank. "That way every one's safe."

The Halloween Feast that night was not nearly as festive as it had been in other years. Before the feast, Dumbledore made the following speech.

"Late in the Hogsmeade trip, after almost all of you had come back to the castle to get ready for tonight's feast, eight of our own Hogwarts students were attacked by Death Eaters. Aside from a couple of Cruciatus curses and one burn that has already been healed, each of these students have survived unscathed through their own skill and bravery. The intention of the Death Eaters, however, according to the students, whom I have talked to, was to capture the students alive and bring them to Voldemort. It is for this reason that we can no longer allow Hogsmeade weekends. We will make up for this disappointment with extra feasts this year, and even an end of year ball for all students above third year who would otherwise have been able to go to Hogsmeade. If any students had been captured, they would likely have been imperiused, and we cannot have students under the imperius curse in this school. What we must have in this school, however, is the beginnings of a resistance movement against these Death Eaters. I have expressed to some students already that exceptional students graduating this year will form the core of an army that I shall form to defeat Voldemort. I am not giving any information that he does not know, so this is not information that would hurt our cause if it were found out under torture someday. I think Voldemort rather expects that I will be the one to defeat him, in some way, as I did to Grindelwald. I will start a club, beginning in second term, that will be meant to train potential members of the opposition to Voldemort. Sixth and Seventh years are invited to apply. You will all be given identity-assuring ink to sign the letter of application, and I will either accept you or not. The people who helped the 8 students get out were very different. Two of them died, two lived. Fortescue, 20 years ago a Hufflepuff, died to prevent our students from being captured. Marie McMurphy, ten years ago a Slytherin, died as well. A Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor running up to the scene scared the Death-Eaters away, because now the odds were no longer in their favor. Therefore members of any house may join our resistance movement."

Most of the school could not enjoy the feast that came afterwards because of the number of times that Dumbledore had said Voldemort, and the thought that it could have been any group of students that was attacked that day. The only ones who actually enjoyed the feast were the Marauders, Lily, Chloe, Marietta, and Andrea. They had escaped today with their lives and their liberty, and they were more grateful for that than they had ever been.

A/N: School's back in now. More reviews equals more reason to procrastinate from work. And remember: You are also strongly encouraged to donate rice for this story. You can win it at freerice dot com and then let me know (in a review) how much you've won for this story in particular. This is for the group fanfictioners against world hunger. if you want to join, let me know.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A Night of Patrols

The following Thursday night, Andrea Johnson, Peter's date from Halloween, who was also a prefect, shared first patrolling shift with Christine Wood.

"Christine!" greeted Andrea. "I was so excited to see that we would be working together. You're definitely one of my favorite people to patrol with."

"Thanks Andrea," said Christine, grinning at the Hufflepuff's honesty. "You're definitely one of the best people to work with, too. Plus, now you've got way more experience dueling than me, if we get into trouble."

"Hey, yeah, I guess I have," said Andrea.

"Are you seriously that modest?" asked Christine, slightly awed.

"I mean, all I did was petrify a couple death-eaters," said Andrea.

"That's bloody amazing!" said Christine.

"Not so much. The other ones kept counter-cursing them," said Andrea. "Plus, aim wasn't that much of an issue... At first there were so many if you just fired a curse you were bound to hit something."

"Still, you survived. That in itself is pretty amazing," said Christine.

"Well, thanks. I'm just glad I didn't get Cruciatused," said Andrea. "Lily and Peter both did. And James got this crazy burn across his chest after he managed to snap one of their wands. I got off easy."

"Do you... do you think you're going to join the club Dumbledore's making? Basically the recruitment side of his future army? Deadline is the end of this month, right?" asked Christine.

"Yes. I'm going to join. I've already started the fight. Or rather they did," said Andrea.

"One way to look at it. Do you think a lot of Hufflepuffs will join?" asked Christine.

"A few. Not many, though. I've heard chatter in the common room. Most think the best route is to lay low. They figure Grindelwald got defeated 30 years ago, and dark magic never lasts. Especially the pure-bloods think they can just ride it out," said Andrea. "Are you going to join."

"I think so. First of all, that whole dark magic never lasts thing is bollocks. Some countries, like Yugoslavia and Poland are under Dark Magic tyrannies where only pure-bloods can be educated and muggle-born wizards and witches are killed when they reach ten, as is anyone who tries to stand up to the system," said Christine. "I mean, I've weighed the options, but I think that Dumbledore's got it right, so... I have to fight for him."

"Are you pure-blood?" asked Andrea.

Christine laughed. "Who are you, a death-eater?"

Andrea laughed, too. "I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to know whether you're fighting for yourself or not."

Christine sighed, "Fair enough. Pure-blood. Which means I'm fighting for my country, not myself. You?"

"Pure-blood as well," said Andrea. It was clear that neither of them were bragging.

"Odd the sorting hat didn't put us in Slytherin." said Christine, sarcastically.

"Yes, well, I do believe I have a second cousin who's a squib. And my great uncle married a muggle," said Andrea.

"Yeah. And the sorting hat must have known I'd have a propensity for snogging muggle-borns. Oooh. Speaking of snogging, think there's any future between you and Peter?" asked Christine.

"No, although I did snog him," said Andrea.

"Why snog if there's no future. Or was there no future _because _of the snog?" asked Christine.

"The snog was because he leaned up against the Shrieking Shack. He looked pretty cool. But the rest of the day he was pretty boring. He seemed really loyal to his friends, which I can respect, but... not enough to date a guy on," said Andrea.

"Fair enough," said Christine.

"Yeah, so... any cute boys in Ravenclaw I should meet?" asked Andrea.

And so the two currently single girls spent the rest of their shift discussing the most eligible bachelors at Hogwarts.

* * *

Chloe and Remus had the second shift that night.

"So, we've never really gotten a chance to discuss it in private," said Remus, "but are you going to join Dumbledore's club?"

Chloe sighed heavily. "Do we really have to discuss this now?"

Remus could hear the strain and the pain in her voice. "No, we don't have to talk about it. We never have to talk about anything you don't want to."

Chloe sighed again, this time in relief, "Actually, I guess you're the best one to talk about this to. If you don't mind my abrupt change of mood."

"No, it's all right. Sirius is always having mood swings. One minute he's bawling in the dormitory bathroom, the next minute he's cursing Slytherins, and he's jolly as can be," said Lupin, without the faintest hint of a smile.

Chloe laughed, and then studied Remus' face, noticing he wasn't laughing at all. "Wait, you're lying, right? About Sirius bawling in the bathroom?"

"Of course," said Remus, and both him and Chloe laughed, imagining the prospect. "You want a hug before we continue this conversation?"

"About places in the castles where Sirius bawls?" asked Chloe jokingly. Then, more seriously, "Yes, please."

They hugged.

"Do you think I'm less of a Gryffindor if I don't join?" asked Chloe.

"You could never be less of a Gryffindor," said Remus. "The hat put you here for a reason. And you're already brave for all you've done already. Plus, there's people in Gryffindor who aren't joining. Don't you eavesdrop in the Common Room, or the dormitories? James and Lily figure maybe nobody who wasn't there on Halloween will join from 7th year."

"Really?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah, that's what they think. And from the chatter I've been hearing, I agree. Even Andrew Longbottom isn't joining, and his brother is an Auror. He says it's because he thinks it'll take away from N.E.W.T. studying time. But it's not. But this isn't about being a Gryffindor, Chloe. This is about being you. What do you think you should do?" asked Remus, sympathetically, sweetly, in a way that Chloe admired dearly.

"I think I shouldn't kill people. I understand that it needs to be done. But I can't do it. And getting into an army sounds like agreeing to kill people, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Well... Sort of. Not joining definitely makes it less likely that you'll kill someone," said Remus.

"I want to be a healer. I think I can be, too. I'm just behind Lily in our year in both Charms and Potions," said Chloe. "I can do it."  
"Of course you can, Chloe," said Remus.

"And if you lot are going to go off and join an army, somebody had better be around to heal you," said Chloe.

"Very true," Remus conceded.

"In fact, maybe I'll talk to Dumbledore about being the army's official healer," said Chloe. She seemed happier now. Remus was glad he had helped her get there.

"So, can I ask you an awkward question?" asked Chloe after a pause.

"Er, sure," said Remus, figuring that it would be something about how he was able to be comfortable with killing another human being, or whether doing so brought them down tho their enemies level, or something to that effect.

What he did not expect was for Chloe to say, "Is it terribly hard being a werewolf?"

Remus snorted. "Er... Sorry for the snort, but... I mean, well, _yes_, it's hard. It's gotten a little... easier, with time, but... It's still no holiday."

"Sorry to ask such a personal question," said Chloe, who was back-tracking and seemed rather embarrassed.

Shit, thought Remus. Time for a joke. He said, "Still, if I were given the choice between being a werewolf and having PMS _and _menstruating, I would totally choose being a werewolf."

Chloe laughed again, breaking the tension, which was lucky because Remus knew it hadn't been a good joke.

"Sorry," said Chloe, "it was truly a stupid question. I guess what I should have said was, 'I think it's really amazing that you're able to be a student, and a prefect no less, while having that problem.'"

Remus laughed way more heartily than Chloe thought appropriate. Her facial expression must have given this away, because Remus stifled his laughter and said, "I'm sorry. James calls it my 'furry little problem.' But, er... if you don't mind me asking, how did you find out that I was a werewolf? For, er... Obvious reasons, we don't want the information spreading."

"Figured it out on my own. I think Lily knows, but we've never talked about it. But you have to figure one or two people are going to find out if you go missing around every full moon," said Chloe.

"Ah yes," said Lupin with a mocking expression of deep thought. "And you can hardly expect students to miss the fact that the moon has cycles at a school where they teach astronomy."

"Right," said Chloe.

"See, you are brave. You're dating a guy who you know is a werewolf," said Lupin. Then he caught himself, after which he got really awkward. "We, er... _are _dating, right? I mean, I'm not being too forward, am I? Was last weekend just a fluke?"

"Merlin I hope not," said Chloe. "There were some very pleasant parts to last weekend. Er. Aside from that whole battle thing, which rather sucked. What I mean to say- Have you noticed that we're both very awkward-?"

Remus smiled and said, "Yes, I did."

"Good. What I meant was, I liked the snogging. In fact. Do you think anyone would notice if we were to take a five minute break and find a broom closet quick," asked Chloe.

"Nope," said Remus. "And, ooh, bonus: if somebody's already using the closet, we can take points from their house and kick them out."

"You're such a deviant," said Chloe, and smacked Remus' butt.

* * *

James and Lily had the third shift that night.

"So, James," said Lily. "How do you imagine things would change if we were officially boyfriend and girlfriend?"

James paused for a moment before answering, in an attempt to make it seem like this was not a question that he thought about constantly. "Well, one thing that would change would be that I'd know you like me as much as I like you. Which would be a relief. 'Cause let me tell you something from experience, unrequited love is about as pleasant as getting a burn across your chest."

"I do like you," said Lily. "But how am I ever supposed to know whether I love you enough? As much as you love me?"

"I think you love me enough. I can see it in your eyes when we kiss... Sometimes even if we're just looking at each other over a couple bowls of cereal. But you have to get to that conclusion on your own. And if the way you do that is counting points up to 200, then that's fine by me. It's actually kind of fun. I like games," said James.

"Well, I'm considering abandoning the game," said Lily.

"Why? I'm so close. 115! Over halfway there!" James calmed down. "I mean, it's totally up to you, and all. Does this mean we're back to just being friends?" James was obviously highly disappointed by the idea.

"Just hold on a moment James, and stop being so dramatic, would you? What else would change if we were boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Well, I'd buy you flowers, oooh, and candy... and candy that looks like flowers!" said James, as if he had just had a major revelation.

"All right, calm down there James," said Lily. "Those are all just good things for me. What about good things for you, or for both of us?"

"We could go up to the Astronomy Tower in my invisibility cloak and snog," said James.

"Why couldn't we do that tomorrow night? If we were dating? Or friends who kiss? Or whatever we are?" asked Lily skeptically.

"'Cause it's only something that I'd do with my girlfriend. Which brings up a whole number of categories of increased physical contact. More hand-holding, more comforting bear-hugs, more soft kisses, and more forceful ones," James had recovered from his fear that he might be a bad kisser after his snogging session with Lily under the hill had lasted half an hour. "Oh, and spooning. If you ever get up the Gryffindor courage to sneak up to the boys dorm."

Lily stuck out her tongue and sarcastically said, "You're such a charmer."

"You're so cute," said James. "Like, so cute that I'd snog you right now if weren't having a serious conversation. About snogging."

"We can pause on the conversation," said Lily, puckering her lips.

James leaned in and gave her a soft, brief kiss.

"Ooooh, that was good," said Lily. "Left me all hungry for more. And... wait, yes... I've got goosebumps."

James smiled. "See. More of those. I promise."

"Of which?" asked Lily. "The kisses or the goosebumps? Ah, toss it, I'll take either."

"Or both," corrected James. "Also, we'd have to come up with nicknames for each other."

"Wait, really?" asked Lily.

"Well, mine for you would just be 'my lovely Lily,'" said James.

"Hmm, does it have to include alliteration? What about Jammin' James?" said Lily.

James shook his head.

"Jamesy-poo?" she asked.

"Haha, come on... can we give me something masculine?" asked James.  
"Could we wait 'til later to come up with yours?" said Lily.

"Sure. I don't see it being urgent," said James.

"You're right. But we do have some points to tally. On Sunday things got hectic, so you stayed at 115. Well. You get 10 for that kiss. And 10 for getting that damn Cruciatus curse off me. So that's 135. You get 10 points for calming me down that night in the common room when I was up late thinking about the people we saw die. That's 145. On Monday, you passed me the butter at breakfast. That gets you to 150. You get another 5 for passing the biscuits at dinner last night, and 10 for letting me have the last egg at breakfast this morning. So you were at 165 before you came out here with me tonight. You get 15 points for having put up with me for the past two months since I told you I might love you-"

"I wasn't putting up with anything... It's been a brilliant two months with you, really," said James.

"And twenty for talking me through my doubts. We're at 200 James. Do you, er... still want to be my boyfriend?"  
"Yes!" exclaimed James, and there were years of pent up waiting released in that yell.

A/N: If you liked this chapter, or the story to this point, I ask you to review here, even if there are more chapters already up (you can always review again later!). Something else that I encourage, of course, is taking 5 minutes of your time, going to freerice dot com, playing the game for five minutes, and letting me know in a review how much rice you win. Thanks!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Christmas Break

The next month and couple weeks until Christmas break flew by rather quickly. The other marauders had to get Remus through two more bouts of turning into a werewolf, but that was pretty much par for the course, and Lily helped make sure that James was able to attend classes without feeling drowsy. She really was a fantastic girlfriend, and the potions were not the only reason.

Quidditch practices had gotten less intense, since Ravenclaw had beaten Hufflepuff, which meant that Gryffindor's next game would be in March, and it would be against Hufflepuff. Then, they would play Ravenclaw at the end of May, and by the way things were looking so far, the outcome of that game would determine the destiny of the cup for the year.

But all in all, it seemed almost no time, in spite of 300 times walking together hand in hand, 250 hugs, about 200 kisses, and 20 protracted snogging sessions, until James and Lily were walking onto the Hogwarts express.

"First time we've ever shared a compartment," said Lily, as she and James led Sirius, Peter, Remus, Marietta, and Chloe into an empty compartment.

"Hey, for us, too," said Chloe.

"And us!" pointed out Marietta.

"Yeah. Just because you're the first through the door doesn't mean you get all the attention. Chloe and Remus are dating, just like me and Sirius," said Marietta.

"Bet you wouldn't have even mentioned it if you knew it would get you in this much trouble," opined James.

"With my friends, I'm always bound to be in some sort of trouble. You should know the feeling. You and your friends are _always _getting into trouble," said Lily.

"Not as much this year, though," pointed out Chloe.

"Yeah, the only real prank we pulled was that one where we made the dungeons and Slytherin's common area all slippery," said Remus.

"It was fun, but we didn't even get caught, so it doesn't count as 'getting into trouble,' really," pondered Sirius.

"I don't mind not getting into trouble," said Peter.

"And I don't mind you not being in detention, Sirius," said Marietta with a wink.

Sirius smiled. It was evident to James, and probably everyone else in the compartment, that more time not in detention essentially translated into more time to snog. Time not being in detention for James meant more time to sit in the Common Room with Remus, Chloe, and Lily and study his ass off. This did mean less time for snogging, but it would also mean he'd be able to become an auror. Having Lily there beside him somehow motivated him more than seemed natural. Peter only wanted to get a desk job in the Ministry of Magic, so all he needed were passes in 4 subjects.

The compartment door opened, and oddly James' first reflex was to reach for his wand. He must have thought it was Flint and some other Slytherins. But luckily it was just Andrea and Christine.

"So what's going on here, is everyone welcome, or is this seventh years only?" asked Andrea.

"Or is it about to turn into some kind of orgy?" asked Christine, with a wink.

"Trust me, if it was going to be an orgy you two would be more than welcome," said Sirius.

Marietta slapped him playfully on the arm.

Lily wondered how serious Marietta and Sirius were. If James had said something like that, she would have done more than slap him playfully on the arm... But then again she'd know James would be joking... unless James _was _into orgies. Maybe they'd have to discuss that alone sometime. In private. Because Lily was _not _into orgies. Sometimes she wished she didn't think so much.

"You two are welcome, but no orgy, so don't get your hopes up," said Chloe.

"Win some, lose some," said Christine, taking a seat.

"Er... I'm going to go ahead and say we just out and out won," said Andrea.

The nine of them spent a pleasant train-ride eating food from the cart, playing exploding snap, and getting through several different games of wizard chess in (both James and Marietta had a set).

"Oh, hey," said James, as the train was nearing the station. "Before we all go: My family has an annual day-after-Christmas celebration. We invite all the witches and wizards in Godric's Hollow. Not all of them come, but we invite them. And some family friends, and my closest friends. 'Til now that's just been the Marauders but... Do you think you girls would want to come?"

"Of course!" said Marietta enthusiastically. "I've always wanted to visit Godric's Hollow!... Er..., and your house on the day after Christmas. But, no, seriously, I can't think of any other group of people I'd want to spend a day with."

Andrea and Christine nodded vigorously in agreement.

Lily and Chloe, however, said, almost simultaneously, "Are you sure we wouldn't be a burden?"

"Are you two sure you're not related?" joked James.

"Yeah, I'm pure-blood," said Chloe.

"Ah, the great muggle-born wonder, Lily Evans, a pure-blood all along!" said James. "Must've been adopted or something."

"James, when you meet my parents, you'll know exactly what kind of rubbish you talk," Lily said.

"No, it would not be a burden," said James.

"Yeah, seriously," said Sirius. "His house is huge, and his parents always get tons of extra food."

"Okay, sounds good, then," said Lily, and Chloe agreed.

Cool. Everybody be there at noon on the 26th.

"Oh, hey!" said Lily, "What's the dress code?"

"We mostly wear muggle clothes, 'cause we find them more comfortable. But, we men usually wear at least a tie, sometimes jackets," said James. "Don't know what that means for women..."

"A nice dress and maybe a matching sweater," said Chloe. Then, as an afterthought, added, "You girls want to go shopping in muggle London this week?"

"Us too?" aked Andrea, surprised.

"Of course! I'll give you my address and then we can all floo over there and take a train over to London."

"Cool!" said Christine. All the girls, as it turned out, were in.

Christmas of 1976 was a good one for both Sirius and James.

Sirius got a new broom; he'd been using the same one for years. Since James had gotten a broom two Christmases ago, he instead got a bunch of pranking accessories and a lot of candy.

"Just no using the pranking supplies on fellow Gryffindors, boys. Wouldn't want any pranking supplies acquired in Godric's Hollow to be used against Godrics' own," said Mr. Potter.

"Of course not," said James.

"Do you like your broom, Sirius? I was never a Quidditch player myself, of course, but James' father was a beater like you, and he said this broom would be top-knotch," said Mrs. Potter.

"Of course I like the broom!" said Sirius. "I'm really starting to think you two like me better than my own parents. Actually... Yeah, I don't think there's any argument that they liked me at all, so..."

"It _is _a nice broom. Cutting edge and all that," said James. "Too bad you've only got two Quidditch games left to use it in."

"I'm going to be a professional Quidditch player," said Sirius. "We've discussed this."

"Even after our new, er... extra-curricular, this term?" asked James tentatively.

"Come on, dear, why don't we let the boys have this conversation on their own?" asked Mr. Potter.

"Well, okay, I just hope that whatever they're discussing isn't dangerous," said Mrs. Potter.

"I'm sure it's not," said Mr. Potter, leading Mrs. Potter out of the room, giving the boys a wink over his should before he left the room. In James' view, his father was a good one, who knew that James would do whatever he had to do. Some people would call it a coddling attitude, but James thought it was more like allowing him to be an individual. And his mother went along with the attitude.

"So you think you can be a professional quidditch player even if you're going to be a member of some kind of army created by Dumbledore?" asked James, more candidly this time.

"Why not? You think you're going to train to be an auror. There's just as much downtime as a member of a Quidditch team as there is being an auror. Dumbledore will find a way, or he'll give me something else to do. But for now, I'm going to assume I'm going to be on a professional Quidditch team. I mean, I don't think there's any debating I'm the best beater Hogwarts has seen in years..."

"Your resume will look a bit better if we win the cup this year," said James.

"Too true, James, too true."

Peter and Remus were the first to arrive, at about 11:59. James, Sirius, and Remus all looked particularly good, each with different color jackets (black for James, gray for Sirius, and brown for Sirius). Peter wasn't wearing a jacket, but was wearing a button-down shirt and his Gryffindor tie.

"Oh, you boys all look so nice," twittered Mrs. Potter.

"Merry day after Christmas, boys!" said Mr. Potter, slapping both Peter and Remus on the shoulders at once.

At this point, there was a knock on the door, and when it was opened, old Bathilda Bagshot walked in.

"Hi Mrs. Bagshot," said James, and gave her a quick hug. Bathilda Bagshot had been James' old babysitter when he was young, before his parents had retired.

Other guests began to arrive, but none of the girls that James had invited had shown up yet. He was beginning to wonder whether they had forgotten the time.

"So, would it be presumptuous of us to show up on time?" asked Lily.

"Er... yeah, maybe a little bit," said Andrea. "You know, want to let those closest to the family get there first, maybe?"

"Oh, Hell, let's just go," said Marietta.

"No, let's wait a couple minutes. One more check in the mirror for each of us couldn't hurt, right?" said Chloe.

"Maybe for you three," said Christine. "I'm not looking to impress anyone."

"You don't know, maybe one of the 'family friends' has a kid our age," said Chloe.

"Right. Well, unless it's Leonard Maxwell, I don't care," said Christine.

"Yeah, or Neville Chamberlain," said Andrea.

"Right, so... Looking over our make-up then?" asked Lily.

After a few minutes, Lily started getting anxious again. "Are we okay to go _now _do you think?"

"I don't know," said Chloe. "Don't want to be the first ones there."

"And there's such a thing as fashionably late," Andrea.

"Okay, how about this," asked Christine. "I floo over there, see how many people are there, then you wait a minute. If I haven't come back, you come over. If there's not enough people over there, I'll say I forgot something at the house... my sweater, here, Andrea, take my sweater and bring it with you if I don't come back."

"That's brilliant!" said Lily.

"Yeah. I'm not a Ravenclaw for nothing," said Christine.

Christine went through the fireplace.

The other four girls waited for a minute, and then went through the fireplace themselves, one at a time, starting with Lily.

"I was wondering when you lot would show up," said James.

"You all look fantastic," said Peter, and he wasn't lying. Lily was wearing a green dress that complemented her eyes, but wore a red sweater over top. Chloe, with her blond hair, wore a blue dress and yellow sweater, while Marietta with her curly brown hair wore a red dress and black sweater. Andrea, who had black hair, had decided on a yellow dress and green sweater, while Chloe who had brown hair wore a pink dress with a white sweater.

"Here, have some butter-beer and something to eat!" said James to Lily.

"Butter-beer, eh? Trying to get me drunk?" asked Lily.

"You know it's only muggle-borns who ever think that joke is funny, right?" asked James. "The rest of us just think of some house-elf drunk off his ass."

"Don't use such language when your parents are-" Lily looked around, "-I assume somewhere in this house." Lily had noticed that she and James were the only ones left in the room which held the fire-place, which also had a door to the outside. Off of this entrance room was another room where people were bustling around, eating, laughing, and just generally making noise. "And second of all," said Lily, who was now confident that she wasn't in earshot of James' parents, "isn't the image of a drunk house-elf at least a little bit funny?"

"Sure," said James, who wasn't in the mood to quibble. "Anyway, merry day after Christmas!" He gave Lily a big hug and a deep kiss.

"Well it's merry now," said Lily, after she finished enjoying the kiss. "Did you like your present, by the way?"

"Of course!" said James. He had mentioned once offhand the three chocolate frog cards out so far that he was missing. She had somehow managed to find them all, even though one was really rare, and had given them to him.

"And did you like yours?" asked James.

"Wouldn't be wearing it if I didn't," said Lily, gesturing with a smile to the locket around her neck.

"Gold's ok? We never really had that conversation," said James.

"Yeah, I never wear silver. With my skin-tone you wouldn't be able to tell. You did great, it's beautiful, really," said Lily.

"Good-o," said James. "Ready to go join the party, then?"

"Sure," said Lily. "Should I be nervous about meeting your parents? 'Cause I kind of am."

"Don't worry they've heard so much good stuff about you over the past couple years they couldn't help but love you," said James.

"Yeah, but do I look all right?" asked Lily.

"First off, you look perfect. Secondly, if my parents cared how people looked would they have kept Sirius?" James asked. Lily giggled. "Or me for that matter?" James pondered. Lily laughed louder now. She liked that James could make fun of himself.

"Anyway, come on," said James, putting a hand on Lily's back to guide her. It felt good to Lily to have James guide her, even though she could have found her way alone.

James had shown her to some butter-beer and a couple of her favorite foods before her parents came into the room, since there were other guests spread throughout sitting rooms in the house.

Lily said, "James, are those-?"

But her question was answered when Mr. and Mrs. Potter came directly over.

"Mum, Dad, this is Lily," said James.

"Hmmm... your descriptions of how beautiful she was _almost _did her justice," said Mr. Potter. He was trying to embarrass his son, by drawing attention to the fact that he fawned over her even behind her back, but he had forgotten that his son was almost incapable of being embarrassed, so he only really embarrassed Lily. When he saw her face redden, Mr. Potter got a bit red and flustered himself and said, "Er, sorry about that."

"Right, well, dear, do you mind if I do a hovering charm on your plate and your silverware and glass there so that I can give you a proper hug?" asked Mrs. Potter.

"Always the problem-solver, my Mum," said James, who said it as a joke but was still legitimately grateful that his mother had broken an awkward conversation.

"Sure, Mrs. Potter," said Lily, with a laugh. Her cheeks were softening from red to pink. James watched the process, almost transfixed, finding it beautiful.

Mrs. Potter hugged Lily, then Lily, in a spirit of reconciliation and mutual recovery from embarrassment, hugged Mr. Potter as well.

After the parental introductions were over, and James and Lily finished fixing their plates, they found the room where the kids their age were eating and talking.

As it turned out, Neville Chamberlain was there, as the Chamberlains were a family friend of the Potters, sharing a cousin and a love for the Glasgow Gulls Quidditch team. The only other student who was there, aside from those who James had invited, was a fifth year named Bruce Wittgenstein, who was in Ravenclaw.

The other girls were trying to force Andrea into situations where she would have to talk to Neville Chamberlain, who was a Seventh Year on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

Finally, after having been harassed by whispers for several minutes, Andrea finally said, "Boy, you guys really walloped us last Quidditch match," said Andrea.

Neville looked around, as if hoping someone else would answer the question.

"Er, yes, I suppose so... I'm sorry?" he asked.

"Yeah, I mean, we could have at least let you score 30 more points before we caught the Snitch," said Christine with a roll of her eyes. "She wasn't looking for an apology, she was looking for a conversation!"

"Er, thanks," said Andrea, who looked as if she wasn't sure whether to laugh, or to cry from embarrassment.

"Well, you played well," said Neville. Then, getting progressively more confident, said, "I mean, you personally. Most of the rest of the team was atrocious." He looked around the room. "You know, you lot can feel free to have your own conversations."

And so they did, and it was a pleasant party, with much conversation, food, butter-beer, and a few semi-snuck sips of fire-whiskey for the guys and Marietta, with the other girls politely declining.

Neville and Bruce left around 4:30, by which time most of the rest of the party-guests had left as well.

"You lot want to go for a walk and see more of Godric's Hollow, before it gets dark?" asked James.

All the girls voiced their excited assent, with the boys just kind of nodding, given that they'd all seen Godric's Hollow several times before.

"Right, well, there's plenty to show," said James, after he had told his parents where he was going. "We actually have to go through a bit of a forest before we get to where most of the rest of the wizarding houses are. There are a couple in its clearings. There it is," he said, pointing.

They made their way through. The forest was already beginning to get shadowy and cool. The girls were beginning to wish they'd brought something heavier than their sweaters, and James finally cottoned onto that fact.

"Hey Lily, would you like to take-" but before he got a chance to say, 'my sweater,' Chloe screamed. Through a hole in the foliage, above the clearing, which they were almost to, Chloe had spotted a Dark Mark in the air.

"That means they've-" Andrea couldn't finish the sentence.

"They could still be there," said James. "Might not have finished up. We've got to see!"

James began to run through the rest of the forest. Sirius and Lupin were right behind him, as was Lily and Marietta and Christine. The rest ended up getting caught up in the tide of James' leadership and peer-pressure and followed on as well.

James was still the first to get a clear view of the scene. There were four death-eaters generally making merry and creating a raucous underneath a boy who looked to be about 8 years old who they were hovering up in the air and torturing. His parents were already no doubt dead.

James thought quickly. "Okay," he said to his eight friends, "we've got to act fast, because they could kill the kid at any moment. We don't want them to retreat, we want to capture them, because if they retreat they could be off torturing some other kid in five minutes. That means put four of us against them. I think it should be me, Lily, Sirius and Marietta, because couples will look out better for each other. The rest of you stay in the forest unless we call for back up. We've got a sure-fire way to make them retreat, if we want to. Everyone in?"  
Lily nodded enthusiastically. She would have objected had James wanted to go into battle without her, and he knew it. James was right. They were a pair and they should protect each other. Sirius and Marietta nodded, too. Remus wanted to object that he should go into the battle, but he knew Chloe didn't want to, plus Sirius and James were both better duelers than him. If they were going by the couples system, he was out. All the reinforcements nodded.

The house was the only one in the clearing. James, Lily, Sirius, and Marietta began running at it at full speed, wanting to make the death-eaters stop torturing the child. James knew the hous was the Lunken house, and he vaguely recognized the boy.

Lily shouted, "Oy, you lot! Stop that!"

Lily was disappointed that the masks the death-eaters wore blocked her from seeing their facial expressions as they let the child drop to the ground (likely causing him less pain than a moment more of the torture would have done) and turned to the approaching teenagers. The boy didn't get up. Likely he was unconscious.

While they were still running toward the Death-Eaters to get into better dueling range, Lily's disappointment at not being able to see faces turned to shock as one of the masked and hooded figures yelled "Avada-" while pointing his wand at James, the one running furtherst in front.

Back in the forest, Remus made to run into the battle, but Christine held him back. She said, "From that far away, he can dodge, and he didn't yell."

Only about half that sentence was out of her mouth, however, before one of the other Death-Eaters said, "Wait, these are some of Dumbledore's lot. No killing curse. Take them captive, maybe the Dark Lord can provoke him into coming to save him."

The four teens were close to the four Death-Eaters now. They were within cursing range, but no one had made the first move since the Death-Eaters' strategy had been declared.

"Voldemort couln't beat Dumbledore if he did get him to come after us," said James.

It was odd to see the Death-Eaters cringe at the name of their own leader, but they did. And then, the one across from James yelled "Petrificus Totalus!"

Before the second syllable came out, however, James had said, "Protego, which made the spell bounce off without harm. Meanwhile, he began an "Expelliarmus!" of his own.

It went through, but he couldn't capitalize on his opponent's missing wand because at that moment, Lily got hit with a petrifying charm, and James reversed the curse.

His opponent had picked up his wand and had cast a Cruciatus curse which James needed to drop to the ground to avoid. In response, he cast a "Petrificus Totalus," which his opponent quickly countered.

Lily, having been petrified once, was determined to be quicker on her feet. She knew she didn't have those "Quidditch reflexes" that everyone was always on about when talking about what good duelers James and Sirius were, but she was sure she could duck and dodge with the best of them. Certainly quicker than her opponent, who sounded by his voice to be an old man.

Her opponent attempted Petrificus Totalus. She ducked it, and at the same time yelled "Accio wand!" She knew this charm was less powerful than the expelliarmus as far as actually getting the wand out of someone's hand, but James had told her he'd used it successfully on a fellow student once and it worked. If she was right about the man's age- Yes! The wand was whizzing toward her hand. Before the man had a chance to retreat, or likely even figure out what had just happened, she followed the spell with a Petrificus Totalus.

At almost exactly the same time, Marietta's opponent yelled, "Cruciatus!"

Marietta thought _Hell no! _and jumped away from the curse, while Sirius turned away from his opponent to yell "Petrificus Totalus!" at Marietta's opponent.

Marietta's opponent put up a Protego charm, but Marietta managed to get a Petrificus Totalus off on Sirius opponent just as Sirius himself was hit with the same spell.

James suddenly yelled, "Reinforcements!," figuring this would be the best odds they would get before the other side started being able to un-petrify their own troops, and the five of them ran out of the forest, the slightly-too-chubby Peter lagging a bit behind. As James had hoped, the two death-eaters who still could disapparated immediately, leaving the other two as captives.

"What loyalty," said James.

"What cowards," said Sirius, who Marietta had just un-petrified.

"Shall we find out who they are?" asked Lily.

Marietta nodded her assent.

When the other five of the friends got there, Chloe ran straight for the little boy, and immediately began performing healing charms on him. Remus went and knelt down beside the pair of them.

The others were embarrassed that they had forgotten about the little boy.

But the two captives would be valuable. They themselves would go to Azkaban, and this would take away two soldiers in Voldemorts army.

The one, they recognized as a boy they had watched play Quidditch for Slytherin back in their first couple years, Anthony Plinkett. The other, a man of about 60 who apparently still clung to his pure-blood supremacy ideals of his youth, none of them recognized.

Chloe had the boy up and walking in almost no time, although he was still clearly hurt, and moaning. He said, "They killed Mommy and Daddy."

Chloe hugged the boy. "I'm very sorry. But we have to get you to St. Mungo's. Will you let us take you?"

"You got rid of the scary men?" asked the boy.

"Yes," said Chloe.

"Okay," said the boy. "I'll come with you."

So they went back to the Potters' house, the nine teens, the two petrified death eaters floating behind, and the little boy, newly orphaned, holding Chloe's hand.

A/N: School's been really hectic lately. More reviews equals more reason to procrastinate from work. And remember: You are also strongly encouraged to donate rice for this story. You can win it at freerice dot com and then let me know (in a review) how much you've won for this story in particular. This is for the group fanfictioners against world hunger. if you want to join, let me know.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Letters from Christmas Break

The following are selected letters which were written by the 9 teens in the days between December 27th, the day after the battle, and Monday January 5, when they were scheduled to return to Hogwarts once again on the Hogwarts express.

_Lily to James December 27_

James,

I woke up screaming last night. Like, really screaming. Like my mom had to come in and check on me. Yeah, like I was a kid. A kid like that poor little 8 year old who had to watch his parents die and then was tortured. And then we _forgot _about him. The dream was about me, when I was 8, only my parents were magical. Petunia wasn't there. She probably ran away because she couldn't stand magic, who knows. Not important. Anyway, death-eaters killed my parents, and then started torturing me, and then you, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, as old as you are now, came and fought the death-eaters and took them away, but left me on the ground hurt and sobbing. Do you think that's what we would have done to that poor kid had Chloe not been there? If it'd only been the four of us, do you think we'd have beat the death eaters and forgotten about the poor kid? I mean, how the bloody hell could we forget about that poor kid? Now I'm just sitting on my bed feeling guilty about it, which is worse than the nightmare. I need a hug, James. From you, not from my mother or father. I didn't tell them what we did... what we forgot to do... They wouldn't understand. Only you could. And Marietta and Sirius. I'm not going to have to wait until the train to see you, am I?

From

Your Lovely Lonely Lily-Flower

_From Andrea to Christine December 27_

Dear Christine

So, I get home last night, 8 o'clock after all that rubbish being questioned by the aurors and other officials to document the case, I get home and find a letter from Neville! Talk about a roller-coaster of a day, right? I mean, I'm all for them prosecuting the death-eaters to the best of their ability, and I know that's why they had to question us, but hadn't we been through enough already yesterday? I mean, especially James, Lily, Sirius, and Marietta. Well, and Chloe, too, getting that boy back to consciousness. I sure as hell know I couldn't have done something like that. Even the medi-wizards seemed surprised when they got there that he was up and walking around, once we told them what had happened to him. Anyway, Neville wants to see me tomorrow night. Date in Diagon Alley, I feel so mature! At a "little restaurant called Pennington Pub," according to his letter. So apparently he has money. I mean, I've heard of the place but never been inside... Whatever, I won't hold his galleons against him. Cool, eh? By the way, are you ok after last night and everything? I mean, I know we were basically just watching, but you know as well as I do that even watching can be hard when it's your friends out there. As another side-note, when did it stop being weird that we're friends with the bloody marauders? I mean I can't even count the number of times I laughed oatmeal up my nose over breakfast because of pranks they'd pulled on the Slytherins overnight. Oh well. Life's crazy, I guess.

Love,

Andrea

_Christine to Andrea December 27_

Dear Andrea,

Damn straight life's crazy! Take yesterday afternoon as a for instance. Damn I wish we'd gotten to get into the action. I mean, I know James made the right choices and all, only... I don't know, there's a certain adrenaline to getting into a battle like that... Anyway, really cool about Neville, _and _really cool that he's taking you to the Pennington Pub. We went there as a family in my third year when my brother got his head-boy letter. Best food I've ever had, honestly. But judging from the number of galleons my Dad handed over at the end of the meal, not the sort of place you go every day. Neville must really want to impress you. Which is natural, of course. You're pretty much the coolest person I know. Now I'm just kind of being protective of you... Like, I hope he's good enough for you. Geez, I never get all mushy like this. I dunno, just... You're a good friend, Andrea. Well, hey, I'm going to end this letter before I continue to embarrass myself, but think about this as a topic for conversation tomorrow night at dinner (I recommend the crab, by the way... disturbingly tasty), is Neville going to be in Dumbledore's club? I've never thought to ask him.

Love Christine

_James to Lily December 27_

Dearest Lily-Flower,

All right, I've got a plan. I remember you said you live near Durham. Well, my Dad knows someone in Durham, and he just popped his head over by Floo and asked if it would be ok for me to go use his fireplace to get closer to you. I'm going to take my owl with me through the Floo network (I talked to my Dad about this, and he says it'll be ok just so long as i keep the owl in its cage for the trip), so this will get to you fast. Then you can send my owl back and tell me where the hell you actually live _specifically_, because I doubt I can tell a cab-driver "near Durham" and get there. It's ok if it's not really close. My Dad has some Muggle cash for weird situations like this, and he gave me a good bit of it. He says to take you out to dinner with it too, if I have enough left over. He really likes you quite a bit. But how about I finish this letter up and floo myself to Durham so I can talk to you in person quicker?

All love,

James.

_Remus to Chloe Decemember 27_

Dear Chloe,

I'm not sure I can put into words what I'm feeling right now, it's early in the morning, and I didn't sleep well last night for the same reasons that you probably didn't either. Still, I just wanted to tell you, you're amazing. I could never do what you did yesterday... When I was there kneeling next to you and the boy, waiting to see if you could... well, what it seemed like was bringing him back to life. Did you even check for a pulse before starting, or were you just hoping for the best? Anyway, it was amazing that you were able to get him from being unconscious to up and walking. I was serious before about thinking you would be a great healer, but I'd never seen you in action until yesterday, and now I'm just ten times more convinced.

Love,

Remus

_Chloe to Remus December 27_

My beloved Remus,

Don't you ever feel like writing 'Dear' at the beginning of every letter starts sounding a little trite? Not that I'm criticizing you... just explaining my deviation from the norm above. Of course, you're dear to me, too, so I suppose it would have fit. Anyway, I slept well last night. I'm a really good sleeper, actually, especially when I'm as dead tired as I was last night. I'm pretty good at pushing things out of my mind when I have to. I think I slept from 9 at night to 9 in the morning... And probably wouldn't have woken up then if your owl hadn't knocked on my window. Anyway, mostly to make sure you're not feeling bad about yourself, I want to make sure you realize that there's a lot of things you can do better than me, like Defense Against the Dark Arts. But I feel like we've been over this. And... I wasn't trying to bring the boy back from the dead. I couldn't let myself think that he might be dead, that's why I didn't check for a pulse. I just didn't want to know. So I tried to bring him back to consciousness. It's what any healer would have done, I know that, and I didn't think there was any point in waiting for us to call one to get there. Trauma from torture can often cause insanity, and the longer people have been unconscious, the worse the outlook is. And it's worse for kids all around. So I had to get him conscious and talking to us, put him out of as much of his pain as I knew how, and then get him walking to a place where we could get a healer. I couldn't bear to let him stay unconscious and have him floating limply behind us like a corpse. So that's all I was thinking about. Just what I had to do. It's the kind of adrenaline I've never felt except for on our Halloween encounter with the Death-Eaters. So you don't have to feel like I'm missing out on the action being a pacifist. I'll still have my battles to fight.

Love you like a niffler loves shiny things,

-Chloe.

_Marietta to Sirius December 28_

Oi, Black!

Look, I think you and me both know after the battle two days ago that I am not a vulnerable little girl or anything, but for Merlin's sake a "hey, how ya doin' with all this?" note would have been appropriate. I mean, James paired us up with each other because we're "a couple," whatever that means... Well, I thought it meant that you... hell, i don't know, "liked?" me quite a bit? Or something? Like enough to write me a letter after a traumatic experience. Merlin, I sound... Shit, I don't know how I sound. The long and the short of it, Sirius, is that I'm not very pleased with you, and I'd also like to know more about what it _does _mean that we went on one date to Hogsmeade together and snog up a storm on a regular basis if it _doesn't _mean that you're going to be there for me, even in the form of a letter, when I need you.

Peeved,

Marietta

_Sirius to Marietta December 28_

Dear Angry Marietta,

Okay, no, look, I totally understand why you're mad, but there's a redeeming explanation: James up and scuppered to go be Lily's knight in shining armour and he took his owl with him. I don't have an owl, so usually I borrow his, or if his is gone he'll ask his parents to borrow one of theirs. But I don't ask. I feel embarrassed asking for extra favors from them, especially when James isn't around. I mean, they've done enough for me, you know? And honestly, I couldn't think of any other way to get to you. Since your father doesn't like magic, I knew I couldn't floo over, and since I've never been to your house, I couldn't apparate to a nearby forest or something because I wouldn't know it well enough to picture it in my head. And if it means anything, I've been _here _for you, wishing you'd apparate over here so we could talk and I could make sure you're all right. Because I love you. All right? That's why James paired us together. Because I love you. Now if you apparate over here tomorrow (I figure the owl won't get there 'til then, it's already 5 in the afternoon as I'm writing this), we can take a walk and talk about our feelings... our feelings about each other, or about the battle the other day, or about unicorns for all I care. It's been too long since I've seen you.

Love,

Sirius

_Peter to Remus, December 28_

Hey Moony,

James was supposed to come by and help me with my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework today. Any idea where he is? Also, you're good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, too, right? Any chance I could maybe have you come by instead?

-Wormtail

_Remus to Peter December 28_

Peter,

I'm kind of booked for today. James is over at Lily's house, from what Chloe tells me. He probably forgot all about your tutoring session. No offense or anything, but Lily does that to him. Anyway, what if I swing by tomorrow around 10 in the morning?

_Andrea to Christine December 29_

Dear Christine,

Ooooh, so. Your friend Neville. Not as cool as we all thought. Or. Well, as you and me thought. I'm not sure everyone else had a chance to form an opinion on the matter. Anyway, lets just say I won't be going on expensive dates again in the near future. By which I mean I won't be dating Neville again. Because he's um... well, let's just say he's the type of Ravenclaw who's closer to being a Slytherin than a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor. Like... the bad kind of Ravenclaw. Not saying there's a lot of bad ones... Anyway, he thinks its safer to remain neutral than to join either side in the war. Safer, cleverer, smarter, whatever it was he said. Actually almost made me feel dumb for standing up for Voldemort. But we're totally right, right? I mean... I almost need confirmation from another Ravenclaw. Neville says that 'cause I'm a pure-blood I don't need to worry about anything and all that. But there _is _something to worry about. Like that poor kid Chloe saved. It's not all about self-interest. Except for for rich prats like Neville.

Warmly, Andrea

_Lily to James December 29_

Dear James,

James, I just wanted to thank you so much for spending the past couple days with me. I hope it wasn't terribly awkward sleeping in Petunia's old room. Hell, I couldn't even sleep in there. But maybe that's because I know her. Haha, maybe sometime you'll get that pleasure. I mean. You will. Unless Petunia and I become estranged. Which oddly enough I think is more likely than becoming estranged from you. Which is weird, I guess. I'm sorry, maybe it's me whose being weird. I'm a little goofy because of getting to spend so much time alone with you. Lot of good snogging, I daresay. Anyway... I don't know if this is me being weird, but doesn't it seem like we've been boyfriend and girlfriend for so much longer than we have? I mean... maybe battles with death-eaters will do that to you. I've never felt so alive as I've felt fighting alongside you, I'll tell you that. I mean... It's weird, cause I totally wish that this war would just go away and we wouldn't have to fight anymore but... I almost look forward to the next battle.

Love Lily

_James to Lily December 29_

Dear Lily,

Yeah, you're a little bit weird, but I think I already knew that and have decided that I love you for it. Yeah, that's what happened. And, your sister's room was fine except for the color scheme. You're um... _not _also a fan of bright yellow and baby-blue, are you? By the way, have you noticed that we have night watch duty together during the second week of term? Not that I look at the list ahead of the time and find where are names are paired. No. Definitely I don't do that. It's really too bad that I won't get to see you again until term starts. I mean, ok, I mean, I know it's only just over a week until the train, but still. Can't wait to see you again. And. Yeah, I get a thrill out of dueling, whether it's against death-eaters against anybody else. And the thrill's bigger with death-eaters because the stakes are higher. I almost feel guilty for enjoying it.

Love James.

_Christine to Andrea December 30_

Hey, sorry for not getting back to you right away... Your owl didn't get to me 'til late, I was getting ready to get into bed early... Anyway, yes, definitely, look there are logical reasons for us not wanting to live under Voldemort, even though we're pureblood. I mean, let's say, best case scenario, we both turn death-eater right now, and get up there in the food chain, we're still living in constant fear of Voldemort's arbitrary wrath. He's got nothing controlling him. The Minister of Magic can't just go around killing anyone he wants. Voldemort can, and does. And what if you were to fall in love with a muggle-born. Or, Voldemort forbid, an actual muggle? Voldemort would kill you even for mentioning the thought. I mean, I know you're not thinking about changing sides, but you wanted a rational reason for fighting against Voldemort, and I think that's the main one. Totalitarian regimes suck. Even if Neville thinks he can thrive under one. And hell, maybe he can. All he'd have to do would be to give Voldemort some money every once in awhile, through Death Eaters. Maybe he or his father already have. People are doing all kinds of things to hedge their bets. But not us. We're putting our cards on the table and letting whatever happens happens, 'cause the stakes are too high to play the game any other way. And having exhausted my quota for loosely related gambling metaphors for this letter, I think I'll end it and send it off.

Affectionately, Christine

_Peter to James December 31_

James,

Hey, so is anyone doing anything for New Years Eve this year? I remember last year we didn't last year because my Mum didn't want to host because Sirius illegally used magic and accidentally set the couch on fire. My Mum, unfortunately, has not warmed up (like the couch did), to the idea of having the Marauders over for another New Years, so I was just wondering whether anyone has any plans.

-Peter

_James to Peter December 31_

Well, my parents are really only up for one big party a year, and even if we just invited the Marauders and the girls, it would be getting pretty big... Remus never hosts anything, and Lily would have told me if anything was going on on the girls' side, so... nope, looks like we're all celebrating separately this year. By the way, sorry about having to skive out of helping you with your homework the other day, but, well... Lily comes first, when she's in a state like she was the other day. Sorry mate.

See you on the train,

James.

_Marietta to Sirius January 1_

Dear Sirius

So, of course, I've been loving our daily walks that we've instituted lately, but I have bad news. As my father has insisted on making our house a muggle one, I have access to this thing called a weather forecast on the evening news. And tomorrow it's going to rain. Like bad. So, I was wondering if maybe you or James could ask the Potters if it would be ok for me to come over and visit tomorrow. It's cool if James third wheels the event and all. Actually I'd kind of like to see him, unless he has other plans. Anyway, I've told my owl to wake you up by tapping on the window whenever it gets there, so... sorry for waking you up, but I want you to write back to this letter early enough that I have time to come over.

Love Marietta.

_Sirius to Marietta_ _January 2_

Dear Marietta,

So, flaw in your plan, honey: Your owl woke me up at four o'clock, but the Potters don't generally wake up until seven. So, I had the owl, but not a response. And your owl wouldn't leave without a response (I believe this must also have been part of your instructions), so the owl was flying around the room the rest of the night while I tried to sleep. My success was limited. Anyway, I asked the Potters over coffee (the owl now anxiously flying around the kitchen) if it was all right if you came over. They said, "Yes, of course, she's a delightful girl," so, really anytime your ready is fine. But, I'm just saying, think about the instructions you give your owl in the future. 'Cause this time was a disaster. And James isn't up yet so I haven't had a chance to ask him if he wants to be our third wheel. But I can't imagine him having any other plans, so count him in, as far as I'm concerned.

From a drowsy-because-of-your-owl Sirius

_Chloe to Marietta January 3_

Dear Marietta,

I've already talked to Remus about this, but I feel like he'd side with me no matter what. Not that that's necessarily a bad quality in a boyfriend, to an extent anyway, but I want to know someone's honest unbiased opinion. And I'm not asking Lily, 'cause she'd just be too nice, too, but I know that you'll give an honest answer. Am I a coward for not wanting to fight in battles, but just heal people instead? I mean, I'd only heal our side, of course. If a Death-Eater came to me with so much as a broken nose I'd tell him to shove it up his ass. But I'm still not out there on the battle lines, risking my life. Does that mean I shouldn't be a Gryffindor?

-Love Chloe.

_Chloe to Marietta_ _January 3_

Dear Chloe,

Of course you should be a Gryffindor. And look, we _need_ healers. People are going to get hurt, like that little boy. And if we have somebody who we all know and trust, who can operate out of someplace other than St. Mungo's that would be amazing. If that's you, then you're of as much value to our side as anyone else. And you know what, it's a courageous choice to decide that you're not one of the ones who's going to duel, if that's what your principles are. You're not going to end lives, you're going to save them. And that's great. And you know I wouldn't lie to you. So you're just as much as a Gryffindor as me, or James, or bloody Godric Gryffindor himself. Don't doubt yourself, it's a waste of time.

-Sincerely Marietta.

_Lily to James January 4_

Dear James,

Being apart from you has been harder than I thought it would be. It's going to be amazing to get back to school and be able to see you every day again. Funny that it wasn't too long ago when "seeing James Potter every day" would have been one of my only reasons for _not _wanting to go back to school. But I guess life's funny like that. Anyway... I'm going to kiss you very hard on the platform before we get on the train. Just wanted you to know.

-Love an excited Lily.

_James to Lily January 4_

Dear Lily,

I certainly do love an excited Lily. And I'm very much looking forward to that kiss on the platform. Funny, though, I can't sympathize with you on the change of heart about wanting to see me, since I've always been excited to get to see you, even when you weren't so fond of me. To put it lightly. But this term should be good. Can't wait to see what Dumbledore's club is like.

Love James.

_A/N: So yes, it took forever and a day, but there's the new chapter. I hope it was entertaining. And if you've liked this story so far, the least you can do is go to www dot freerice dot com and win some rice for hungry people, then write me a review in which you tell me how much rice you've won for my story. This is in connection with a group I'm a part of called Fanfictioners Against World Hunger. For more info, see me profile or the profile of the penname "freerice" Of course, all reviews are welcome. _


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Longish chapter, I hope you like it. Thanks to Rue-The-Marauder for the rice!

Chapter 16

Dumbledore's Club

"As you will all be well aware," said Dumbledore, "I have not been accorded the privilege of teaching a class in several years. I suppose I could have accorded myself that privilege anytime I fancied, but that's rather not the point. The point is, that I do hope dearly that I'm up for it, because the subject is important and the timing is, to be rather blatant, dire. This class, or club, or whatever it is that you'd like to call it, will meet once a week, and the reason that I will teach it myself is that it is rumored by some that I have nearly impeccable skills in Defense Against the Dark Arts and related pursuits, and also so that I can get to know you, as you will soon be, if you agree to it, some of the first members of a group which will do what the Ministry should have been doing for years, and actually start fighting Voldemort."

The twenty or so students in the classroom applauded, leading Dumbledore to smile and fold his hands politely on the front of his robe. Lily had watched enough Muggle politicians to know that most of them had a way of raising their voice at the end of a point to lead the crowd into applause. Dumbledore had not done this. The applause had been spontaneous, unprovoked, or rather provoked only by the fact that all the students in the room believed that the idea of fighting back against Voldemort was worth applause in its own right. Lily felt good to be part of such a crowd.

"It will be hard, and for most of you who are in your final year, you will be sacrificing a letter grade in at least one of your exams by taking and practicing for this course. I did not accept everyone who wanted to be in the group. Some, I turned away because I did not feel they were sincere, others because I believed they could not handle the added strain that this will cause to your no doubt already stressful academic life. So rest assured that those of you who are here are here because I think you're smart enough and talented enough to be here.

"Most of what we're going to learn in here, at least at first, is going to be simple dueling, although to call dueling simple is rather ludicrous. I will start off this meeting by telling you a few things that you might not have considered from your usual Defense Against the Dark Arts training, but will be immensely useful in battle. Don't worry, though, since this is the Thursday night of the first week of classes, I shall try not to strain your brains too much," said Dumbledore.

A few students laughed politely. James figured Dumbledore could strain his brain as much as he wanted. It wasn't every day that you got to learn from the greatest wizard alive, and this club meeting was already the most exciting thing that had happened during this first week back to school.

"There are a couple concepts I need to clarify before anything else. Number one, you have always known that a well-performed spell is stronger than a poorly performed one. One with a lot of emotion behind it is stronger than one without. One conbsentmindedly cast a protego charm, and your enemy casts a strong cruciatus curse, that curse is going to break right through your shield. Now you might think it improbable that you would be absentmindedly casting spells during an encounter with death-eaters, but I can tell you, and some of those here could tell you from experience as well, there are many things that go through your mind when you're in a battle. For instance, if you are focusing on whether your friend dueling beside you is winning or losing her battle, and are simultaneously casting a protego charm, it may not be effective enough to ward off a well-concentrated-upon petrificus totalus curse. Another point to keep in mind, knowing that protective spells are neither full-proof nor as effective at disabling your enemy as a spell which is actually _directed at them_, is that most aggressive spells used in battle are mere beams of light. They are effective only if that single beam of light hits the target on his or her body. Charms, of course, are different, which is why the protego charm can protect your whole body if used properly, and there are protective charms which, in combination, can protect an entire house or castle. With these things in mind, what I want you to focus on tonight is casting protego charms, and trying to break through them. This will be a test not only of your concentration but also your overall magical ability and your force of will to break the spell. We will be using the petrificus totalus curse to try to break through. Whether or not you think your protego charm will be broken, it may be advisable to duck. Only if you are actually petrified will the match be considered a win for your opponent. The person trying to petrify their opponent gets three chances to cast the spell, and the defender may cast the protego spell as many times as necessary. Once the agressor paralyzes the defender, that match is one by the agressor, if they fail to do so, the defender win. Switch off every match. You may pick your own partners."

James glanced at Lily with a raised eye-brow. Lily assumed this meant, "Will you be my partner?" Lily returned an eye-roll and a smile, which meant, "Of course, you silly git." She wondered if James would catch the full meaning.

The room they were using for the club was a large classroom that hadn't held any students since the days when all four houses had their first and second year courses together. Still, this gave plenty of room to duel, especially once Dumbledore instructed the students to come to the front of the classroom so that he could stack all the desks and chairs at the back of the room without bowling down any unfortunate students in the process.

"Okay," said Dumbledore, once this was done, "each partnership should pick out a space, and put about twenty feet between you and your opponent. Have enough space between yourself and any other groups that you have a bit of room to dodge without knocking into anyone or getting hit by a spell. Of course, at least a couple of you will probably get hit by a rogue spell which is why for tonight, we're only going to use petrificus totalus, which causes no pain, and is easily reversible."

Lily and James stood 20 feet apart from each other, between the pairings of Marietta and Sirius and Christine and Andrea. Remus and Peter were partners as well. Chloe, who had not joined the club, figuring that doing so was basically the the same as joining the army that the club would feed into, was in the library studying healing spells.

"Okay, Potter, you want to be attacker or defender first?" asked Lily.

James, remembering that Lily had said before that during competition, he would always be "Potter" to her, he responded, "Well, Evans, as I would never attack someone as beautiful as you before I was first attacked, why don't you be the attacker?"

"Well, good thing all the witches on their side look like hags," said Lily, rolling her eyes because it wasn't true. For instance Narcissa, who had graduated from Slytherin the previous year, looked like she could be quite beautiful if her face wasn't always contorted into one form of hatred or another. "Anyway, you're on. Start on 3?"

Lily and James counted to three together, as beams of light carrying petrificus totalus curses started to shoot through the air around them.

Having counted to three, James put up a Protego Curse, thinking of nothing else. He'd be damned if he was going to let Lily beat him. Each of them had a competitive streak, and he was sure that Lily would lord it over him if she won more times than him. He certainly would do the same to her.

"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted LIly, with a strong conviction in her voice that James could only just barely hear over the shouts of "Protego!" and "Petrficus Totalus!"

At the same moment as Lily's curse bounced off of James' protection spell, Sirius came sliding across the floor to James' feet. "Sorry mate," said Sirius, as he looked up at him. "Thought my protego was going to break and I'd lose. Couldn't have that, because... well, you know how it is," he glanced at Lily with a grin.

"No problem mate," said James, rolling his eyes. He then cast a mobilis corpus spell on Sirius and plopped him back down where he was supposed to be.

"Oi! that's really weird when you're awake to feel it," said Sirius.

"Right," said Lily, shaking her head. "So I get two more chances and then it's your turn?"

"Yeah," said James. He looked at Lily. She was obviously disappointed that she didn't get the curse through the first time, and her face was a mix of frustration and concentration as they prepared to count to three. Her lips were pursed, her eyes were squinted, and her nose was crinkled, yet somehow she still looked beautiful.

They counted to three, but James, against his will was still thinking partially about how beautiful Lily was as he cast his "protego" spell. He was considering pulling a Sirius and dodging the spell, but Lily was too quick. She aimed the spell slightly off of James, toward Sirius, figuring that that's the way he would dodge (she could see in his face that he was distracted when he cast his protection spell). James managed to jump half a foot to the left. Right into Lily's spell.

"Merlin's dung!" snapped James. "I suppose you aimed there on purpose?" he asked.

"Of course," said Lily off-hand.

"You're a shrewd one, Evans," he said.

She stuck her tongue out.

So Lily was up one nihil. James was not happy about that, but hey, he'd come back from much worse deficits in Quidditch, so why not here?

The first duel in the next match went decisively to Lily: James, who was concentrating very hard and was confident that he had conjured a spell that would break any protego charm, was surprised to see the spell backfire on him after rebounding off of Lily's apparently impeccably cast defensive charm. James had to duck his own spell.

Lily laughed. James' face was priceless, and the velocity with which he dropped to the ground was enough to ruffle his hair naturally... not by means of that annoying little ruffling move he always used to do back in fifth year. She shook her head to clear it though. Round two was on the way.

Lily cast her protego spell, but James seemed to be having quite a hard time figuring out where to aim his wand. Lily began to hope he would cast it soon. Protego spells got weaker the longer they lasted, something Lily knew from her advanced study of charms but which Dumbledore had not mentioned in his speech. Perhaps he wanted to reward those who already had the knowledge, while allowing those who lacked the knowledge to find it out in practice. Lily wondered if James knew this fact or not.

As time went on, it became more obvious that he did. "This isn't fair," complained Lily.

"Isn't it, Evans?" said Potter. "Feel free to cast the curse at me if you feel I'm taking too long."

But as James and Lily both knew, casting another spell, even a replacement protego spell, would give James an opening to curse her without the spell.

Lily looked down. The protection was fading near her feet. The spell was getting weaker.

James had noticed the same thing she had. He was aiming his wand at her feet.

He began to pronounce the spell, watching Lily's knees bend, straight down, with no other movement in her body. She'd be jumping straight up, James knew. The spell would not leave the wand until the incantation was complete. Timing was everything here.

As Lily jumped, right toward the end of the incantation, James suddenly pointed his wand upward, to the spot where her head would be once the spell reached it, above the protection of the original spell, which protected approximately where her body was.

The spell hit Lily, right in the forehead, and because she was in mid-air and the spell had such force behind it, she fell backwards.

James, having not even a split second to revel in his victory, rushed toward his girlfriend.

He immediately undid the curse and asked, "Lily, are you okay?"

"What, we're not in competition mode anymore once you've knocked me on my ass?" asked Lily, joking although grimacing with pain.

"Where's it hurt?" asked James.

"Back of my head, mostly" said Lily.

"Should I get Dumbledore?" asked James.

"Nah, this is a simple bump. Why don't you let me teach you how to heal it?" asked Lily, sitting up with a bit of a groan. The back of her head was pounding with pain, but most of the rest of her back side was a little sore, only in a way that she knew the best remedy would be walking it off for a bit, rather than any sort of magical charm or potion.

"Er, all right," said James, hesitantly. He wanted to do everything in his power to undo the damage he had done, but he wasn't sure the best way to do that was to put in an amateur to do a medical spell.

"Seriously, it's the simplest spell for most household bumps and bruises, it'll be handy for when we- I mean when you and your wife have kids," said Lily, her face reddening, hoping that James had not realized that after only a few months of officially being boyfriend and girlfriend, she was already giving him advice on how to raise their kids.

James, who had caught the slip but decided politely to act like he hadn't, after all, it could have been a simple slip of the tongue instead of revealing her deep feelings, was still encouraged enough by the possibility that he became more confident about learning the spell.

"Right. What is it?" asked James.

"Just point the wand at the back of my head and say, 'meliorem vulnum,'" instructed Lily.

James complied, still somewhat nervously. He muttered the incantation and was slightly surprised when the area in question glowed blue for a moment before turning back to the natural red color of Lily's hair.

"Er... better at all?" asked James tentatively.

"Yeah," said Lily with a smile. "You're a good student. And a worthy opponent. We're one and one. Ready for round three?"

By the end of the meeting, James and Lily ended up at a dead tie of 7 to 7. Marietta beat Sirius 9 to 7. Sirius acted as if he was upset about this, but knew that Marietta and he were about even in dueling overall and the fact that she had beaten him tonight was something that he found kind of hot. Maybe they'd be able to find a broom cupboard for some snogging later on that evening. Remus, of course, beat Peter 10 to 4, and even the four wins were due more to Remus' own coaching of Peter than any innate talent on Peter's part. Meanwhile, Christine had beaten Andrea 10 to 6, something that Andrea was by no means happy about.

Dumbledore dismissed the club, telling them that he was happy with the progress he had seen from all of them that night, and that he was also glad that aside from the several Gryffindor 6th and 7th years there were also some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who had joined the club. As everyone else was filing out, Dumbledore asked James if he would stay behind.

Lily was curious as to what Dumbledore wanted to talk to James about, so she took a longer than necessary time packing up her stuff in order to catch James' eye and raise her eyebrows questioningly. James shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly but Lily could tell from his face that he was genuinely curious.

Lily shrugged too, and said, "I'll wait up for you," before leaving the room. She was the last one out, and there was no sign of the other Marauders or Marietta as she made her way along the first couple corridors which marked the normal path to the Gryffindor common room. When Lily stuck around with James they must have figured that James had been called on for some sort of Heads' business and Dumbledore had merely forgotten to call Lily's name.

No matter, she was a big girl, she could walk the corridors herself, especially before curfew. It was just a little ominous, dark since nightfall was so early these days, and the torches weren't really enough to light the corridors.

Then she saw Andrea walking a little bit ahead of her, in the next corridor. She was walking slowly, almost dejectedly, but Lily remembered that the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor common rooms were rather near each other, except that the one was up in a tower and the other down in the dungeons and along a corridor beneath it, so she called out to Andrea, hoping she'd found a companion for at least most of the journey back.

Andrea turned around, startled, but then her face got hopeful once she recognized Lily.

"Hey!" said Lily cheerfully. "Mind if I walk back with you?"

"No, of course not," said Andrea, but she still didn't sound happy.

"Of course, if you want some space to think or something, that's totally fine," said Lily.

"No... I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind," said Andrea.

"Well I hadn't figured we'd be walking along silently," joked Lily.

Andrea gave a grudging smile and said, "Right."

"So," said Lily, urging her on, "what's got you in such a foul mood, then?"

"I'm rubbish at dueling," said Andrea.

"Okay, I'm sure that's not true," said Lily.

"Yes, it is," said Andrea, her tone suggesting impatience with Lily's failure to understand. "You and James were totally evenly matched, and Christine beat me 10-6"

"First of all, James and I weren't totally evenly matched. I was better at the Protego and he was better at the Petrificus Totalus. But we each had to think new things up each round. Like in our fourth round, I managed to jump to my left and cast a new spell at the same time so that James couldn't take advantage of my weakening Protego spell."

"Wait, protego spells weaken?" asked Andrea.

"Yeah, Dumbledore didn't mention it. But Christine might have known it already, like James and I did. Doesn't mean you're a worse dueller. Plus, you and Christine, both being Quidditch players, are probably about even in your dodging... If she knew even just a little bit more about the technicalities of the spells than you did, that could lead to 10-6. But in an actual battle, even if an opponent did know that they could wait around for your protego charm to wear off, they'd probably be hit by another spell in the meantime. And if you feel like you need help with the technicalities of spells, well... I'm in the library an awful lot, studying for N.E.W.T.s, you know? And I've always heard that teaching someone else is a great way to review, so... I don't know, I could teach you some stuff, if you wanted," said Lily.

Andrea beamed. "That'd be really great. Hey. Can I tell you something that might seem really stupid?"

Lily said, "Sure. That's what friends are for, right?"  
"Well... I've always thought you were really cool. I mean... You know I'm not a muggle-born, but the whole school's been abuzz with how you're the "cleverest muggle-born" the shool's seen in ages, and I just don't understand why it's not the "cleverest witch." But you don't seem to mind all that, you take it all in stride, and you really _are _clever. And yet all the boys on my Quidditch team have complained about how you're almost too attractive to look at at one point or another, how the only thing that could make you more snoggable was if you actually played quidditch..."

Lily hoped her friend would get to the point soon. She was blushing from embarrassment, although she wondered with vague amusement what James would think if he knew that all the boys on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team wanted to snog her

"But now I've really gotten to know you, and you're even cooler than I thought, but you're so nice, too. And I'm just always amazed that I'm actually your friend, like that we're equals, you know? It's almost tempting to look at you as sort of a big sister. I've always wanted a big sister." Andrea said.

Lily laughed, but immediately regretted it. Andrea looked quite hurt. "I'm sorry," said Lily. "Just, I was thinking of _my _big sister, and she's... well, the worst kind of muggle, if you know what I mean. I mean, I've got nothing against muggles normally, but she's one of those muggles who hate witches. I'm pretty sure she's been trying to get me burned at the stake for years... It's just a good thing those laws don't hold much weight anymore. But you know what, I think you're right. You're one of my closest friends, and that's really not far off from sister, at least when sisters act their part properly. So friends are better than sisters really, and in times like these we all need as much family as we can get. So if you want to think of me as your 'big sister' that's fine, but not because I'm cleverer or cooler or anything like that, 'cause I'm not. You just need to give yourself more credit. But I am a bit older than you, so I suppose 'big sister' works," she smiled kindly at Andrea.

"Okay," said Andrea, seeming to get her confidence back. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to start going around calling you 'sis' or anything. I just really appreciate the offer for help on charms and stuff, and I wanted to let you know... you know, what you mean to me. I mean... especially in times like these. What with little Mikey Adel and all."

"I know," said Lily. Mikey Adel was a Ravenclaw 2nd year who had been killed by Death-Eaters, along with his family over Christmas break.

Lily gave Andrea a hug. They'd been standing and talking for the last minute or so at the staircase, going down leading to Hufflepuff's Common Room and going up leading to Gryffindor.

Lily said, "You're right about that, and I just want you to know that you mean a lot to me, too. It's hard to believe that I only really knew you since Halloween and that battle with the death-eaters. But you've been a really fantastic friend ever since then, and I can't imagine what I... what any of us... would do without you."

Dumbledore was leading James back to his office and he seemed purposefully to be avoiding any topic of any possible relevance.

"So, I hear you've got a Quidditch game coming up at the end of February," said Dumbledore, as they made their way down the hallway.

"Er, yes sir," said James, confused as to how he'd come to be making small talk with the headmaster.

"Sounds like it will be quite cold," said Dumbledore.

"Er... yes. Professor, am I in trouble?" asked James.

Dumbledore looked seriously at James. "Depends how you define trouble."

"Er... expulsion, detention, being stripped of my Headship?" asked James, who for the life of him could not figure out what he might possibly be in trouble for.

Dumbledore smiled politely, "Oh no. Your assignment will require none of those things. Of course, you're not obliged to accept the assignment, only I suspect you will."  
"What assignment? Some sort of extra credit thing?" asked James.

"I'm afraid it is imperative that I do not speak any more about this until we get back to my office. We are not being listened to now, but it's before curfew, so many people are in the hallways."

"Er, right," said James. "So what else do you know about Quidditch?" asked James.

"Well, I know that Gryffindor is giong to win the Cup this year. But of course, I say that every year," said Dumbledore with a smile.

When they finally got up to the office, James sat across the desk from Dumbledore.

"Well, now we can get on with things," said Dumbledore. "There were two students from Slytherin who asked to be in the club. I have interviewed each of them personally and strongly believe them to be fit to join the club. However, I think that it would be dangerous for them to join the club openly, as they would no doubt be regarded as blood traitors of the worse kind. However, rather than turn them away openly, I offered the pair of them a taxing and quite dangerous tax. I suggested that they may, if they wanted, become our moles, first in the Slytherin House, as we have already seen dark magic begin to seethe to the surface within the castle from that house, and once they graduate, among the Death Eaters. Both have agreed, at their own great peril. But they will, of course, need a contact. However, both now and in the future, it is more plausible that they would meet with you, perhaps to try to convert you to their cause, given that you belong to two of the oldest magical bloodlines that we know of, than that they would meet with me. I believe that you are the best person for the job. I feel that you can be trusted. But you should know that if you let word slip to anyone, even Lily, that their position could be compromised, and that they could be killed, even in this very castle, for such a betrayal. Of course, if Lily, or any of your other friends, ask where you are going during these meetings, both the ones with them and then the ones with me to convey important information, just tell them you are on special business for me. Which will of course, be good enough. Are you willing to accept this dangerous assignment, recognizing that you will probably be killed along with them if they are discovered as moles?" asked Dumbledore.

James thought about it for a moment. If he was the best candidate, then he was obliged to do it. He could certainly see the importance of maintaining a line with moles, and it certainly made sense that it wasn't with Dumbledore. What if they were imperiused to kill him, or managed to hear some important information from him which could then be cruciatused out of them in the future. "Yes sir, I'll do it."

Dumbledore then opened the door of a small room to the left of his desk.

"James, meet Grant Ellington and Susan Manger. They're both seventh years, so they will be graduating with you and you can immediately transition into being their contact for their Death Eater Mission. I will leave you three to my office. You should take approximately the next hour trying to get to know each other, so that each of you will know the questions to ask to see if someone has taken Polyjuice to resemble one of your allies, or is under the Imperius Curse, given that people act just slightly differently when they are affected by this curse," said Dumbledore.

Dumbledore left the room.

"Er, well... I'm Grant Ellington, and I don't want to live under a tyranny," said the boy.

"I'm Susan Manger and I don't want to participate in genocide," said the girl.

"Er..." said James, "Well I guess that's a good place to start. I don't want to do either of those things."

A/N: Come on, if you've read this far, the least you could do is review. Also, I'd like again to make my pitch for freerice dot com. Please go to the site, win some rice for this story, and then let me know how much you've won for this story so that I can tell the rice-tracker for "fanfictioners against world hunger" Thanks!


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The Slytherin Society

Early in the second week of school, James and Lily talked at breakfast about the prospect of sharing the second patrolling shift with each other.

"I've got something interesting to tell you," said James. "Can't tell you in front of anybody else, though." The Marauders, even a hesitant Peter, had determined that Lily had proven herself loyal enough, by standing beside them in two separate major battles, to know about the fact that he, Sirius, and Peter were animagi.

"Oh yeah?" said Lily. "So you'll tell me interesting things even when you're _not _going to get points from it?"

"Apparently," said James, "apparently. Although... for a long term relationship, it just makes sense, right?"

Lily faked surprise. "Wait, you're looking for a_ long_-term relationship? Here, and I was planning to get out before Valentine's Day," said Lily, sticking out her tongue.

James rolled his eyes. "Didn't you used to be such a sincere girl?"

"Never. I just sincerely disliked you. You can ask Marietta and Chloe, I've always been a smart-ass."

James smiled, but then an owl swooped down and placed a sealed bit of parchment in front of him. The owl wasn't his parents or anyone else he knew, and his heartbeat quickened as he guessed who the letter might be from.

He opened it up, holding it close so that Lily couldn't see. It read,

_Potter, _

_Skive off potions and meet me in the third floor corridor... directly above the Slytherin Common-Room... You ought to know exactly where that is. _

_-A friend of Dumbledore and Yours_

James made a conscious effort not to look over at the table where each one of the two people who he expected might have written the letter were seated. He knew he had to go, but he was also aware that it was possible that someone had already somehow compromised one of the two spies and was planning an ambush. Still, an ambush during regular school hours, even if classes were in session, would be going a bit far even for the junior death-eaters who James knew the school was crawling with.

"Who's the letter from?" asked Lily.

"Sorry, can't tell you," said James.

Lily raised an eybrow. "Your secret crush from Ravenclaw?"

"No. But why Ravenclaw?" asked James.

"Well, a girl has to be a certain amount of clever to appreciate you, James, and all the cleverest Gryffindors are already taken," she said.

"Good point," said James with a grin.

"So why can't you tell me who the letter's from?" asked Lily.

"It's special business from Dumbledore," said James.

Lily looked a little hurt, but then said, "Well, you know... Whatever the special business is, I'm sure you're more appropriate for it than I am."

James didn't know how to respond. "I honestly don't know how Dumbledore made the decision. I probably shouldn't even have told you as much as I have, though. I don't think I'm more qualified than you at anything, though."

Lily countered, "Okay, that's _definitely _not true. We're both better at different things, I've got Charms and Potions, but you've got Defense Against the Dark Arts, and... Quidditch! Are you Dumbledore's special Quidditch agent?" Lily asked in a mockingly hushed tone.

"Yeah, Lily, that's exactly it," said James.

"Ellington," said James, nodding at the Slytherin.

"Potter," said Ellington, returning the nod.

"Good thing you were one of the two or three Slytherins who isn't in that Potions Class," said James.

"Yeah, and good that you've got a reputation for skiving off classes. No one will suspect a thing. Look, I've got a brain, Potter," said Ellington.

"Fair enough. I haven't been skiving as much this year, but your Slytherin bunch won't have noticed. Still, I'd prefer to do this sort of thing at night, when we can't get caught," said James.

"Yeah, speaking of," said Ellington, "I can't help but wonder why we haven't discreetly moved this rendevzvous to a conveniently empty classroom." He pointed at the door of the classroom they were standing outside.

James followed Ellington into the room. "I don't understand why you didn't mention the classroom in the first place. We could have been overheard." James had, of course, checked the Marauders' map before entering the corridor, to make sure any fellow skivers, or students with free periods, were in the area. But with all of Hogwarts ever-changing corridors and passageways, it was dangerous to take one's location in relationship to others for granted for long.

"Wouldn't matter if we were, we didn't say anything important. Even if someone heard the two of us speaking, we could just as easily be trying to cover up a mid-day snog between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin," said Ellington.

"James raised an eyebrow. You gay, mate?" asked James.

"Don't know, never really tried it," said Ellington off-handedly.

"Well," said James awkwardly, "I'm certainly not the person to try it with..."

"Merlin, Potter. Snape may be an evil git along with the rest of those future Death-Eaters in my house, but he got something right... You really do think everyone wants in your pants," said Ellington.

James was insulted for a moment, but remembering that he and Ellington were on the same side, he laughed it off. "Look, your sexual preferences clearly isn't what you asked me here to talk about. What's going on?"

"Well. Your little Dumbledore club has a rival. Or will have one, starting tonight. They're calling it the Slytherin Society. Tonight we're having initiation. I know you and Lily are on patrol duty tonight. I wish I was, because I shudder to think what this "initiation consists of. But anyway, I know you've got a little posse, not Dumbledore's army, but... I don't know, talk in the Slytherin Common room is you can muster a total of 9 people on your own. I don't know how many you could get to come tonight. Obviously, we figure we can take you and Lily if you stumble upon us, even obliviate the memory from your minds, which apparently Snape knows how to do. All I'm saying is that the meeting will be in this classroom tonight. You can avoid the corridor or not, your choice. The meeting starts at midnight," said Ellington.

"Why not in the Slytherin common room?" asked James.

Don't want any of the firsties snooping in or anything. Only 5th years and up," said Ellington.

"Is Voldemort condoning this?" asked James.

James was not surprised to see Ellington cringe slightly at the name. But he recovered quickly, "Yeah, Voldemort's endorsing it. By proxy. Apparently he's met in person with a couple of the brats whose parents are in the, er... association." Finally a Slytherin with a spine, James thought, mentally complimenting Ellington for saying the name. Half the Gryffindor house wouldn't even say it.

"How many you got?"

"Including Manger and I, 22. But if you can break up the meeting tonight, I think it would be a big psychological blow for the Mini-Death-Eater types. And I know you'll be outnumbered like crazy, but a lot of these idiots are more talk than wandwork, and I'm pretty sure no one will be aiming to kill, and most of them don't have powerful enough magic yet to even get the spell off. Plus Voldemort doesn't want to bring the battle to the castle. Yet," said Ellington.

"Merlin," said James.

"What are you going to do?" asked Ellington.

"I'm not sure," said James.

"So what was this secret you were going to tell me tonight?" asked Lily, as their patrol started at eleven.

James was startled at the question at first. The fact that he had been planning to tell Lily about his abilities as an animagus had slipped his mind amid a day largely spent fretting over what to do with the information that Ellington had given him.

"Oh, er..." James hesitated, trying to get his head back into the present conversation. He hoped that Lily would attribute it to him being nervous to divulge the secret. It wouldn't do to have her notice that he was acting weird. "I'm..." and now the hesitation really was about the secret, "an animagus."

Lily raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You're not!"

"So are Peter and Sirius. We turn into animals when Remus becomes a werewolf, to keep him under control so he doesn't have to be cooped up in the Shrieking Shack the whole time he's a wolf," said James.

"Well, that does sound just like you lot. But seriously, animagi? I'm assuming you're not registered," asked Lily with a tone of disapproval oddly mixed with affection.

Not at all," said James.

"What's your animal?" said Lily, who was absolutely astonished that James wasn't gushing with pride to be able to tell Lily what he and his friends had accomplished, illegally but oh so impressively.

"A stag," said James, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

Lily looked James up and down, as if appraising him. She was grinning. "It suits you."

James had tried to go to Dumbledore, to ask him what to do. Was it worth the possible injuries or even death that a battle might bring? Dumbledore wasn't in his office. When James asked McGonagall why he wasn't there, she said he was performing some of his duties for the Wizengamot. With Dumbledore out of the school, James would have to decide what to do on his own.

"I'll have to see it sometime," said Lily. "Or, well. You as it. Er... You as a stag."

"Right. Well not now. It gets skittish inside," said James.

"Right, of course not now, silly. We're on patrol, remember?" asked Lily.

Oddly enough, James was not so much "on patrol" as he was counting down the minutes until midnight. It was now 11:07.

The minutes ticked slowly by.

Lily noticed that James seemed to be having trouble concentrating. She knew that whatever was going on in his head had to be something to do with that note he'd received that morning that he wasn't allowed to tell her about.

It was certainly annoying to know that there were things about her boyfriend that she couldn't know, but there was no reason to believe that there would be less secrets once they were actually part of the army against Voldemort. And she loved James. Part of what she was fighting for was a world where James didn't have any official secrets he needed to hide from her.

James led her a little too insistently to the third floor at 5 'til midnight. It was odd, but Lily was doing her best to ignore trifling oddities.

Lily noticed James getting more and more nervous as the minutes ticked toward midnight. She tried to distract him, just to take his mind off of whatever was worrying him, but most of his responses were half-hearted smiles and curt nods.

At one 'til midnight, James pulled out what Lily now recognized to be the Marauders' Map. He quickly activated it, lamely explaining that he had a feeling that something weird was going on. Lily thought that if James was going to be some sort of special agent for Dumbledore, he was going to have to do a better job of concealing it. Although of course if there was one person who he could slip up on this count in front of, it was her.

"Bloody Hell!" said James, a moment later, in a tone of surprise that Lily nearly believed to be authentic.

"What?" asked Lily, rushing over to the map. Her curiosity, of course, was genuine.

"Look. In this classroom, there's like... twenty Slytherins," said Lily.

"Shit!" said Lily, flaberghasted. "Well that's certainly not something we can deal with alone."

"Right. But what about us, and 5 other Gryffindors. Not to beat them in a battle, just to scare them out of the classroom?"

"What, Marietta, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and... Chloe? I guess if we're not battling to the death she'd be in... But wouldn't it be better to get some Professors instead?" asked Lily.

"Not all the professors would be good in a fight, if the Slytherins bring it to that. I mean, what's Binns going to do, float through them? And Slughorn wouldn't battle anybody, Dumbledore's not at the castle, plus, it'd take us forever to get to everyone's offfices and bring them back up here," said James, who had thought of this as a possible option earlier that day. He hoped it didn't show.

"Fine, but how much faster is it going to be to assemble the Gryffindor Seven?" asked Lily, inventing the nickname off the cuff.

James smiled, the first real smile she had seen from him all night

"A good bit, actually," said James, pulling out a small mirror from his pocket.

"Sirius!" James shouted. He shouted again.

"Oy, mate," said Sirius tiredly. "Let a guy get some rest."

"Not now," said James, sounding nervous again. Get Remus and Peter, and Chloe and Marietta and get to the third floor corridor with that portrait of Alfred the Goblin Gainsayer in it as quick as you can. And bring the invisibility cloak."

"Er... Right-oh. Is Hogwarts falling or something?" asked Sirius, mostly sarcastically.

"No, but it's not good news. I'll explain when you get here."

"Aye-aye cap'n," said Sirius.

"So you can talk through mirrors?" asked Lily, figuring that there was no reason anything should surprise her at this point in this rather eventful evening.

"Only through those two in particular," said James, still distractedly looking at the map.

"What is it, one corridor over?" asked Lily.

"Yeah," said James, thinking now that it may have been wiser to stay on a lower corridor until he had summoned the marauders and the girls."

"Thoroughly convenient," said Lily, in a way that only half implied that she was in some way onto him.

James looked at Lily worriedly.

"Look," said Lily. "Whatever secret you have that I don't even half-way understand is safe with me. You gave me the animagus story tonight, it'll be awhile 'til I get the nerve to ask for anything else. Well. Except this. How's Sirius going to get the girls? The stairs will turn into a slide."

"Yeah, Lily, I discovered that first year trying to chase you up them. Convenient thing, though, the stairs only detect _human _boys, I assume because it'd be inconvenient for them to change into a slide every time that a male insect crept onto them. So Sirius, as a dog, can get up there just fine, then turn to a human once he's on the landing to your dorm," said James.

"Clever," said Lily. "So when they get here, what are we going to do?"

"Not sure yet. Under the circumstances, I think we should take a vote once everyone knows what they're getting into. Of course, we can't force anyone to do it, so if the vote's 5-2 or something, we have to decide if we want to go in with 5."

"But we've got the element of surprise. And an invisibility cloak. That's got to count for something," said Lily.

"Yeah. And we'll have to decide how much," said James.

Lily and James talked minor points of strategy. James was a little bit worried to see Lily so gung-ho about going in. On some level, he had been hoping that the vote would be an overwhelming no and no one would be in unnecessary danger.

Soon enough, about five minutes after the original mirror-conversation, Peter, Remus, Sirius, Chloe, and Marietta showed up, at a run and panting.

"Geez that was quick," said James, looking at his watch.

"Hey mate, when I say aye-aye-cap'n, I _mean _aye-aye cap'n," said Sirius.

"So what's going on, James?" asked Remus.

"Look at this," said James, spreading the Marauders' Map on the floor. All seven spread around it, both Marietta and Chloe having been introduced to the device during the year.

James pointed to the twenty odd Slytherins in the room.

"I think it's some kind of out-of bounds Slytherins' meeting," said Lily. James was glad Lily had figured it out and he didn't have to say it.

After a couple moments pause, Remus objected, "They're not all Slytherins. Two of them are third year Ravenclaws. Marcy Stevenson and Greg Chalet. Friends of one of my cousins," said Remus.

"Oh, no," said Chloe. "We've got to save them! They could be torturing them right now!" We're going in there, right? I assume that's why you guys brought us here?"

"Er... Well... I was going to have us vote on it,, seeing as how we're outnumbered, and these Slytherins, I mean... They haven't killed anybody yet, but..." said James. "And no matter what, I'm not forcing anybody to go in. So it's not so much a vote as a call for volunteers."

"And I don't fancy becoming the first, but I'm willing to bet that we'll be able to identify the really dangerous ones almost right away, and we're good enough duelers to disarm them, if they even have the spine to try to kill us. My bet is they'll run the moment their party's crashed," said Sirius. "My vote's yes."

"Mine too, if I didn't make that clear," said Chloe.

"I'm in," said Marietta.

"Yes," Remus.

"Let's go!" said Lily.

"Yes," said James, still feeling guilty about putting his friends into danger.

"Er... Yes," said Peter, after a good bit of hesitation.

James' mind changed modes. There was still a little bit of planning to do before going in, and the idea of a battle, however minimal they were hoping it would be, was exciting.

"Okay, first things first," said James. "No unforgivable curses, that stuff is for their side, not ours. Second of all, no blocking the exits. Let anybody who wants to run, run. Only helps our odds. Third, Sirius, do you have that invisibility cloak?"

"Right here," said Sirius, tossing the silvery fabric to James.

"Great. We put one person under here, I was thinking one of you girls," said James. "And that's not chivalry either, I just think you're shorter, nimbler, and will be able to move around more quickly without being exposed. Just make sure not to trip on the fabric, but I think it should be loose enough on any one of you that wherever you step the cloak will come with you. I think it should be someone with good cursing ability, too. It'd be excellent if we had someone cursing Slytherins without them being able to curse back. Anybody game?"

"I'm not very good at curses," said Lily.

"Me neither," said Chloe.

"Leaves me, I suppose," said Marietta. "Think I'm nimble enough Sirius?"

"You're a Seeker, that question should be self-explanatory," said Sirius. "Besides, I've had to run in it before, too. Just so long as you don't get snagged on anything behind you, you'll be fine, and holding your wand out in front of you will help to give you extra room in that direction."

"Besides, it shouldn't really matter if they see your feet for a second. Just make sure that you're invisible for most of the time, so they don't have time to get a curse off at you," said James.

"Right. So... are we just waiting to give them time to curse the third years, or what?" asked Lily impatiently.

"All right," said James. "Let's go!"

Sirius grinned, ready for battle, and led the way to the classroom he had seen on the Marauders' Map.

"Have Marietta go in second," said James, wanting the element of confusion coming from an unseen curser to come in as early as possible.

"Right-oh," said Sirius.

"And wait up for the rest of us a bit!" yelled Lily. "Don't go in there by yourself and get yourself cursed into 50 pieces by the entire Slytherin House!"

Sirius and an invisible Marietta waited outside the door until the rest of the Marauders, Lily, and Chloe caught up.

"Ready?" asked Sirius, his hand on the door knob.

"Let's go," said James.

Sirius opened the door and plunged into the room, aiming two quick Petrificus Totalus curses before the Slytherins had a chance to do anything but muddle about in a general state of confusion.

By the time James got in, fourth, since Lily had cut him in line, he noticed that all the usual suspects were there, plus a number of other Slytherins.

Flint was at the front of the classroom, and James noticed the two Ravenclaws, tied down to the teacher's desk with magical rope.

At a glance, James recognized Vice, Snape, and Regulus Black in the seats of the classroom.

Snape jumped up and trained his wand on James.

"Sectumsempra!" yelled Snape, as James returned fire with a simple Petrificus Totalus.

James had never heard the spell that Snape had cast at him, but it didn't sound like something good. He didn't even make an attempt to dodge the spell though, knowing that his fellow Gryffindors were behind him and wouldn't have time to dodge the spell.

Snape didn't dodge either, so fixated was he on seeing the results of this spell, which he had never cast on a living human before.

The force of the spell knocked James onto his back, and he felt a deep, painful gash, forming from his shoulder and across his chest. He was sure he was bleeding even though he couldn't see it through his robes yet. He wondered if he could get back up, in so much pain.

Hell, he thought, I've put up with a cruciatus curse in better spirits than this, and hopped back up. He was satisfied to see that Snape was also laying on the ground, and judging by where he had landed, he had probably hit his head on a desk on the way down. None of his fellow Slytherins were helping him, or any of the other 7 Slytherins who had been downed so far by means of Petrificus Totalus. Many were too busy trying to figure out where the rogue spells cast by Marietta were coming from, and others seemingly would rather have the glory of cursing a Gryffindor themselves rather than helping those one their own side.

James did a quick survey of the front of the classroom to see how his side was doing. Peter was on the ground with boils growing out of his face, his limbs splayed out. This was clearly something other than the Petrificus Totalus curse, and James didn't know how to reverse it. He was half-ready to go over there and check for a pulse when he noticed that Lily, who had apparently been in a duel with Flint, was now on the floor with Flint over top of her, obviously holding her under a Cruciatus Curse. This was something that he could deal with immediately. The curses Peter had received, whatever they had been, were not getting any worse, and at least he could stop the pain that Lily was in. And punish the person who had put her in that pain.

But speaking of pain, the curse that Snape had dealt him was hurting worse and worse, and he was starting to feel light-headed from loss of blood. Luckily, in the heat of the battle nobody had noticed the sticky blood seeping through his robes, but he knew it wouldn't be long 'til he was too weak to stand.

He pointed his wand at Flint, knowing that magic relied on mind-power, not the amount of blood your body had to work to work with. "Petrificus Totalus!" he shouted.

Flint fell, but at the same time, James himself stumbled to the ground, ending up prone on his back.

He was too weak to get up, and he had dropped his wand several feet away. He was wondering if he would lose consciousness.

Suddenly, Vice yelled, "Those who wish to retreat may do so now without dishonor."

James could swear he hear Sirius scoffing from several feet away at the idea of Slytherins having honor to begin with.

A few 5th years cautiously snuck toward the door, clearly wondering if the Gryffindors would curse them on their way out.

"James, you okay, mate?" asked Sirius, who had come up to stand beside the spot where James lay on the floor.

"Finish up the battle, then worry about me," said James weakly.

"Merlin, mate, you're bleeding like hell," said Sirius.

"I know, Padfoot. Just win the battle. Remember, let people retreat," said James.

"Will do," said Sirius, who rushed back into the fray, cursing a sixth year and causing several others go toward the door.

James used what little strength he had to crane his neck just enough to watch the battle continue. Finally everyone had retreated or been petrified aside from Vice, Ellington, and Manger.

Nobody on the Gryffindor side had sustained any more injuries, although Chloe had been temporarily petrified, a problem which Remus was quick to make right.

That meant the 3 Slytherins were up against 5 Gryffindors, and none of the Slytherins were able to hit their marks, given that the Gryffindors were dodging like mad, and Marietta was invisible and seemingly using mostly non-verbal magic, so that the Slytherins were unable to hit her. Besides, Manger and Ellington seemed to be aiming always slightly off, although no one else in the room, under the stress of battle, seemed to notice.

"What the hell are you two waiting for?" asked Vice. "They've got us, let's go!"

"Would the Dark Lord want us to retreat from a bunch of Gryffindors?" asked Manger with a very authentic-sounding sneer.

"We have no choice!" yelled Vice.

"And let our comrades be captured? The Dark Lord won't want so many of us expelled, and you know that Godric wannabe Dumbledore will expel us on any grounds we can find," said Ellington.

James took a good bit of his last remaining consciousness to compliment Manger and Ellington on their apparent loyalty to the Dark Lord. No one could suspect people who were their up to the end begging to fight at three to five odds had tipped the Gryffindors off about the meeting in the first place.

"We'll figure it out in the morning!" said Vice, as he dodged simultaneous curses from Lily and Sirius.

"Fine, but this is on you," said Manger.

Vice cursed under his breath as he ran out of the room, hurling misplaced spells in the direction of the Gryffindors all the while.

James finally lost consciousness.

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. If you've read this far, why not review? Also, remember, those who visit freerice dot com and tell me in a review how many grains they've earned for this chapter get a special shout out at the beginning of next chapter. And once more, anyone who would like to join fanfictioners against world hunger, just let me know. Further, I'll donate 500 grains for each review I get.


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